It is seemingly impossible to find a company that doesn’t have an account on one social media platform at least. The more sophisticated and advanced companies, have one on each major platform. But the question then is, why? What empirical evidence is there that drives companies to invest in Social Media and open themselves up to the conversation?
Well for starters, organizations have started to realize that with social media, you can make your pitch, give your Reasons to Believe (RTB’s) and close the deal in a far shorter time than it used to take. According to McKinsey & Dachis Group, organizations that use social media as part of their global sales process show a 10% increase in revenue. So the increase in sales due to the shortened process is definitely one reason.
Another reason is that Social Media has opened up a human resources pool that companies could only dream of having. In the past, companies were limited in how they received resumes and got people to apply to their jobs. But with Social Media, HR managers can recruit from all across the world and in real-time. According to the Society for HR Management (SHRM) poll, 56% of organizations said they use social media for recruiting. This percentage is rapidly increasing. So, not only does the sales team benefit, but HR does too.
The third and final reason I will discuss, not because there aren’t more reasons, but so I can get back to my twitter feed, is Marketing and PR.
This is the most obvious reason any company would want to dive into the world of Social Media. However, this can also be the most tricky to master. Over the years we have seen a number of successful case studies in which companies started the conversation with their audience, kept them engaged, and reaped the benefits. However, we have also seen the draw backs of companies that fail to have a proper “Brand Defense Strategy” in place. Not all the engagement a brand will get will be positive. That is why a brand must be able to make the positive always shine brighter than the negative and be prepared to accept, divert and transform any negative comments into positive ones. There are a number of ways to do this. Perhaps in future blogs we can cover the subject of Brand Defense more thoroughly.
By:
Jihad Altoukhi
