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Social Media, Online Marketing Friend or Foe?
Marketing News |
23/11/2009
Social media divides opinion in more ways than one. Some businesses see it as a revolutionary new way to talk to their customers and approach recruitment, others have barely even registered its significance, and a few hold it in contempt. But the growth of this technology has consequences that no-one can really avoid. Just about every business will have employees who are on social networking sites. All it needs is for someone to put their place of work on their profile, and you immediately have an online company representative. Their behaviour then reflects on the business – and in the most extreme cases, misdemeanours can create a PR nightmare for their employer.
How should IT staff cope with this, and what should they do if the worst happens? Social media is too new to have a standardised approach, and companies are taking their own line on the problem. Some trust their employees fully, although they might keep an eye on what they say. Others ban entire sites at work, in the hope that will prevent any accidents – apparently forgetting most people have internet at home. There’s a whole range of possible options, and that’s before customers have even been considered.
Consumers have always been able to say negative things about a company, but now there’s potential for bad-mouthing poor service on a much wider scale. Experts agree that many companies who have previously felt comfortable ignoring consumer complaints might not be able to get away with it so easily. Sites like Twitter give consumers and employees a “voice”, they say, and executives are going to be under increasing pressure to listen to this voice.
So what’s the best way to deal with social media, and the effects it might have on your company? Each case is different and it generally requires some thought – the approach will depend on the type of company and its working culture. Paul Taylor, co-founder of social media monitoring company 6Consulting, said monitoring software can be used for a range of things – from finding out what employees and consumers are saying about your brand to providing better customer service.
“People use monitoring software to get an understanding as to what people are saying on social media, and what they’re saying about your company or one of your competitors.” He says companies employ monitoring firms to improve customer service by talking to people who mention their brands, or for sales, by subtly interacting with people who seem interested in buying a product like theirs.
It may all seem a bit Big Brother, but Taylor says it can take some of the initial fear out of experimenting with the technology. “At the very least, there’s no reason not to listen and gain insight from the enormous amount of conversations taking place.” Recruitment is one area that has really embraced social media – it provides an easy channel to talk to potential talent.
Along with the opportunities, there are the problems, and errant employees are a big worry for some. Dominos Pizza is one of the most well-known examples, after two workers filmed themselves doing unpleasant things with people’s food, before uploading it to YouTube. It got 600,000 views, but it’s worth noting that the company’s response video, which they uploaded 48 hours later, eventually got 1 million. By understanding the technology and reacting as quickly as possible, most mistakes can be countered.
Despite the scare stories, IT bosses we spoke to don’t seem too worried by the risks. David Wilde is chief information officer (CIO) at Westminster City Council. He says the council is using Twitter and wikis to actively engage residents, and added, staff are not blocked from social media sites.
He adds, “We do monitor and take action if staff behave in an inappropriate manner, in the same way as we do on any engagement on service delivery or with the public. This is not about technology tools, just good management.”
Fin Goulding, CIO at online travel agent Lastminute.com, says he wants his staff to be innovative and work in collaboration with each other – restricting access or monitoring them, he says, wouldn’t encourage that. “People are going to slip up and make mistakes, but we are not a controlling organisation,” he says. “A lot of our team on mobile apps have created their own videos, put them on YouTube and tried to create viral interest. We encourage it. And anyway, there will be something else that comes along soon enough. We want to be at the cutting edge. If you start restricting people they’ll stop being innovative.”
Online clothing retailer Asos.com also takes a relaxed attitude to employees using Twitter and Facebook. E-Commerce director James Hart actually asked staff already using the sites to add the company name to their profiles, and let people know what they were up to at work. He does follow what they say but says it’s good for the company’s brand. He said at the recent Media140 conference, “We have 55 people on Twitter. I trust them and I see what they say because I follow them. We like to be where our customers are, and we adapt to the environment. I'm not really sure what to do with the official account. People search for Asos.com so we need something, but we don't really push products at them. I just want to talk to and learn from them.”
So most aren’t too worried, but some companies may want to take the simple option. Ted Hunt, digital communications manage at drinks company Innocent, just manages one Twitter account under the company name. Employee accounts don’t have the Innocent brand name attached to them.
“We keep it as a single Innocent drinks account. Otherwise it fragments too much and it's hard to control the message. It's easier to get a message out in one go. But we don't moderate blog comments strictly,” Hunt said.
Perhaps the best approach is to be open-minded, while educating users. A morning with the sales team telling them why it’s a bad idea to post pictures from last Friday night on their work Twitter accounts will ultimately be cheaper and easier than expensive monitoring software. And while social media gives employees and consumers a voice, it also gives businesses one too. What’s important is learning how to use it.
Posted by Rebecca Thomson.
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