The use of social networking in business

Jodie Humphries

Social networking: how much do you use it in business? Or the other question should be, does your business let you use social networking? However instead of cracking down on staff using Twitter and Facebook at work, firms could soon be exploiting social networking's business potential and drafting policies to control its use.

Business use of technology is evolving faster now than at any point in the last decade. Internet use has moved way beyond email and websites and into social networks and cloud computing.

Will 2010 be the year Facebook and Twitter take over the business world? The social networks are growing in popularity by the day, both for personal and business use, yet many IT and business executives remain wary of the risks posed by the online services and skeptical about potential benefits.

The days of companies being able to dismiss social networking as a consumer issue are numbered, according to analyst companies including Gartner group, which predicts by 2014 social media will replace email in about 20 percent of businesses.

Rather than trying to restrict social networking access like many companies have previously done, companies may actually look to build their own social networking platforms, or at least take greater advantage of existing sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Social media policies in place

According to IT consultancy Accenture and technology-specialist law firm Morrison & Foerster, about 50 percent of companies have a social media policy in place. The rest have some catching up to do.

Most companies will already have policies in place to govern staff use of technology such as email and the web generally. They will also probably have codes of conduct for behaviour both within the company and with external partners and clients. But social media sites have the ability to cross the boundary between what is traditionally deemed business activity and an employee's personal life.

As the use of social media - including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook - grows, organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the potential risks posed by the use of such sites.

With companies' reputations and corporate secrets potentially put at risk by thoughtless tweets or other postings by employees, businesses are putting in place policies setting out recommendations for how staff use social media - whether they should identify themselves as working for that organisation, for example, and what subjects should not be discussed.

The biggest question when it comes to explicit rules on issues such as social networking is one of trust. Especially in smaller companies, management may argue that employees don't need detailed rules on every questionable activity or to be actively prevented from accessing certain sites.

Staff postings to social networking sites pose a new data leakage risk. Yet, at the same time, social networking is increasingly important to businesses. Organisations are reassessing their approach to controlling staff access to the internet. The trend, established between 2006 and 2008, of allowing more staff to access the internet has been reversed. Nearly half of large organisations now restrict which staff can access the internet; less than a third did so in 2008.

Who should develop social networking guidelines?

If you've accepted that you need social networking in business, then you have to decide whose job it is to develop the guidelines. Traditionally, issues that deal with staff behaviour and conduct are dealt with by HR. But social media is also a tech issue so it makes sense for the IT department to be involved.

Being explicit about what employees can and cannot do on social networks is important but it's also important not to be too prescriptive, experts argue.

Benefits for your business through social networking

Business owners who take advantage of social networking for their businesses can also increase sales. Social networks are a great method of reaching existing and new customers at a fraction of the cost of other marketing methods. Most individuals who are asked to join a group or view a page on a social network will. Most people will simply will look at the account and decide whether they are interested in the page or not. However, this can lead to many small businesses wanting to spend all of their marketing time or budgets on social media. While spending some time and money on social media is a great idea, you want to diversify. Having a combined strategy of social media integration and other marketing methods will lead to the most success, the article, 'Expanding your business through social networking for business' states.

Businesses that do not take full advantage of what social media has to offer are losing out. Sales, customer satisfaction and employee happiness can increase dramatically through a series of social media accounts.

It's said that in this day and age, the likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts should be standard for every business, regardless of what industry they work in or products they deliver. Social media enables businesses to connect with millions of possible customers, without necessarily the same cost as conventional marketing.

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