Social Business Priorities for Midsize Firms
Social business is becoming more of a priority for smaller firms that are striving to become more productive. According to an article in Tech Page One, the challenge is to combine the financial benefits of social and customer engagement efforts with sales and marketing. Meeting that goal requires the proper optimization of a company's IT department.
The Value of Social
The article also reported that midsize firms know that social collaboration is valuable. Due to limited resources, however, there are obstacles from the start to getting the quantifiable business outcomes that they desire. Time, money and IT knowledge are often inadequate for what companies initially want to achieve regarding the implementation of various social platforms and marketing channels. They are endeavoring to find a connection between social networking and a return on investment. Smaller companies can monitor key metrics on a weekly or monthly basis to measure social media success. Presence, engagement, conversions and sales can be tied to social collaboration, and because every platform is different and offers various benefits, interactions must be measured differently.
Socially Understood
Firms of all sizes are implementing social media tools to connect with clients and business partners in new and engaging ways. Besides social networking sites, businesses are applying their email and business process applications to social strategies. For example, a social business platform will permit an employee to use any enabled application from any other enabled application without exiting either. Social tools, including those that offer mobile applications, can empower a company to coordinate events and meetings and to share data quickly and seamlessly, which is increasingly important as more employees work globally. This higher level of interaction increases productivity.
The Bottom Line
IT professionals make the decisions that will innovate the way employees communicate. To be thoroughly informed, they often turn to consultants who have social media expertise. These consultants can explain the appropriate metrics that apply to their organization and can present solutions at a reasonable price point. This kind of assistance is critical to ensuring that IT professionals adopt the right kind of security and compliance measures to keep their brand safe. Furthermore, vendors can also provide an overall plan to implement the IT tools necessary to enable better communication within the organization. As a result, a smaller firm can safely drive traffic and interest to their online presence, which can increase customer loyalty and advocacy and ultimately increase revenues.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
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Social Business Priorities for Midsize Firms