Social Networking Boosts Your Business
The other day, we mentioned how some businesses are struggling to make the great shift towards going social. Social Networking, as you probably know by now, is now very much in, and with Facebook continuing to rise in popularity, hitting 200 million members early this week, and social networking in general getting more popular every day, it's becoming clear that social networking has a lot to offer the business world.
Using services like Facebook, Twitter and other social networking services and tools has more to offer than many business owners and managers would probably like to admit. It's that reluctance to admit it, or embrace it that is probably slowing their business growth down. The bottom line is, trust is key and the internet and social networking is now offering you more ways to build that trust than ever before. Starting a Twitter page is a fast way to directly, and we do mean directly, connect to your customers, fans and potential clients. By opening those lines of communication and increasing the transparency of your business, trust is built.
Wiliam is seeing some of our more its savvy clients that have embraced social networking boosting traffic to their sites by up to 8% each day. Compare this to typical search, paid or display campaigns and the budgets they typically attract and you’ll see why social networking can help increase traffic and consumer engagement.
When it comes to Australia, it is true that many businesses and business executives are a bit ahead of the game, the problem is, they are not far enough ahead. According to Craig Dower from Dynamic Business who conducted a recent global survey that interviewed more than 500 executives at the largest companies in each country, including 80 in Asia Pacific, they found some interesting facts;
"...results suggested Australian companies are ahead of the game when it comes to using tools such as online chat to receive IT support, it highlighted that Australian businesses are still reluctant to unlock the full potential of social media. The survey also showed that companies know social networking is slowly becoming a reality in the workplace, but most have no plans to handle it, primarily because of apathy at the executive level."
So it is true, Australia is ahead of the curve for adopting Web 2.0 technology, but it is also true that they are behind when embracing social networking and they still fear that it will sap the productivity of their employees. The bottom line is, Social media has a HUGE potential to help your business, and the faster you adapt, the faster you'll succeed.
