Communicating through social networks is a necessity for companies today. Over 70% of organizations around the world use Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. According to a KPMG study called Going Social: How businesses are making the most of social media, companies use social networks most often for promotional purposes (over 60 percent). 57 percent of them are also expanding the use of social networks as a part of the innovation of their products and services, recruitment or work with employees.
The study involved 1850 managers and 2016 employees from 10 countries (Great Britain, Australia, USA, Canada, Japan, China, Brazil, India, Sweden and Germany). 60.3 % of the respondents consider the ability to identify suitable opportunities as the most important success factor of the use of social networks for business purposes. It is interesting that only 15% of respondents are interested in measuring the number of followers on social networks.
Companies that do not use social media yet are most afraid of the risks associated with IT security or with the wasting of employee time. Conversely, those who have already introduced social media are most afraid of excessive consumption of bandwidth and the fact that their IT environment is exposed to malware. 62 percent of companies somehow restrict their employees’ access to social networks and 5% block it completely.
“Even though companies see certain risks in social media, such as negative publicity ensuing from the impossibility to block inappropriate comments in discussions, they perceive their benefits as much greater. Nearly 90 percent of respondents view social media as a tool that allows target groups greater access to information. And social networks help 80 percent of companies improve their relations with the public,” summarizes KPMG in its press release.
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