Businesses profit from social networking

Social networking has become a mainstream business tool in Viet Nam, a study has found.

A newly released global survey commissioned by workspace solutions provider Regus said 62 per cent of businesses successfully used social networks to win new business.

Relatively little analysis had been done into the real use businesses are making of social networking and whether hard business can be generated through this channel.

To understand if businesses globally believe that social networking is ready to take its place as a marketing tool, the survey asked business leaders not only whether they had made any customers using the tool but also whether they believed it is effective enough to get its own marketing budget.

It found that well over a quarter of businesses world-wide (27 per cent) set aside a proportion of their marketing budget for social networking activities.

In Viet Nam, the number rose to 54 per cent. Around 92 per cent of respondents in the country used social networking to keep in touch with contacts though only 46 per cent had found employment through social networks.

Around 77 per cent said the main utility of social networks is managing and connecting with customer groups.

Global response

Globally, social networks were still used for their original range of functions. The most popular use of social networks was staying in touch with business contacts, with 58 per cent of respondents globally declaring they use networks for this.

Joining special interest groups was also popular (54 per cent).

Though a number of sceptics (34 per cent) said social networking will never become a significant method of connecting to customers and prospects, 51 per cent of firms organised, connected with, or managed customer groups via social networks.

Fifty-four per cent of firms used social networks to obtain useful business information.

The survey also analysed company size differences and found that overall small companies were a little more likely than average to use social networking. Perhaps due to this greater than average effort with the medium, 44 per cent of small companies successfully acquired new customers through social networking compared to 36 per cent for medium companies and 28 per cent for large businesses.

On a sectoral basis, ICT, retail, media and marketing, and consultancy made above-average use of social networking, while manufacturing, financial services, and the health sector lagged behind.

Only 19 per cent of financial services companies had a budgetary allocation for social networking activities compared to 38 per cent in the retail and media and marketing sectors. Also in the financial services sector, only 26 per cent of companies had managed to win new customers via social networking compared to 48 and 46 per cent in the media and marketing and ICT sectors.

William Willems, regional vice president of Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Regus, said: “Our groundbreaking global survey reveals that social networking has finally become a mainstream business tool.

“Although there is a hard core of sceptics globally, which does not believe that social networks will become a significant method of reaching customers and prospects, a significant proportion of firms are devoting real marketing budgets to the medium to acquire new customers and keep existing ones.

“While the most popular function of these networks remains that of keeping in touch with contacts, businesses are also successfully acquiring new customers, supporting their retention efforts, and interacting with customer groups.” — VNS

Tags: social networking