Globally social networking has become a mainstream business tool with fully 40 per cent of businesses having successfully used social networks to win new business, but in Thailand this is true for only 36 per cent of companies, reveals a new global survey commissioned by global workspace solutions provider Regus.
Testimony to the faith businesses are now putting in the social networking medium is seen in the revelation that well over a quarter of businesses world-wide (27 per cent) have set aside a proportion of marketing budget - hard cash - specifically devoted to social networking activities.
Up to now, relatively little analysis is available regarding the real use businesses are making of social networking and whether hard business can be generated through this channel. To glean whether businesses globally believe that social networking is ready to take its place among an array of marketing tools, the Regus survey asked business leaders not only whether they had made any customer wins using social networking, but also whether they believed the channel effective enough to be awarded its own portion of marketing budget.
In Thailand specifically, only 33 per cent of businesses have set aside a proportion of marketing budget devoted to social networking activities. Although 61 per cent of respondents used social networking to keep in touch with contacts only 55 per cent declared that the main usefulness of social networks was the possibility of managing and connecting to customer groups compared to the 51 per cent global average. 67 per cent declared that they use social networking to find useful business information compared to the 54 per cent global average. 64 per cent of respondents (globally 44 per cent) declared that they were impressed by audio/visual animations on a company profile. Thailand is also home to 24 per cent social networking sceptics which is less than the average (34 per cent).
Globally, social networks are still used for their original range of functions. The most popular use of social networks is staying in touch with business contacts, with 58 per cent of respondents globally declaring they use networks in this way. Joining special interest groups is also popular (54 per cent). Although a number of sceptics (34 per cent) believe social networking will never become a significant method of connecting to customers and prospects, a full 51 per cent of firms organise, connect to or manage customer groups via social networks. 54 per cent of firms use social networks to find out useful business information. Surprisingly, however, only 22 per cent of respondents had found new employment through social networking, this in spite of the specific job search functions of networks such as LinkedIn.
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 have successfully acquired new customers through social networking compared to medium companies (36 per cent) and large businesses (28 per cent). The only exception to this trend is that a smaller than average number of employees at small firms had found new employment through social networking. This result can best be interpreted in light of slower staff turn over in small companies than their larger counterparts. Although employees in medium companies were the most likely to have found employment via social networking (25 per cent), medium businesses were also the least likely to use social networks to organise, manage or connect to customer groups (45 per cent).
On a sector basis, the ICT, Retail, Media&Marketing and Consultancy sectors made and above average use of social networking, while Manufacturing, Financial Services and the Health sector were lagging behind. Only 19 per cent of companies in the Financial Services sector had devoted budget to their social networking activities compared to 38 per cent in the Retail and Media&Marketing sectors. Also in the Financial Services sector only 26 per cent of companies had successfully won new customers via social networking compared to 48 per cent and 46 per cent in the Media&Marketing and ICT sectors.
William Willems, Regional Vice President of SEA , Australia and New Zealand , Regus, commented "Our groundbreaking global survey has revealed that social networking has finally become a mainstream business tool. Although there is a hardcore of sceptics globally, who do 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 through the medium to acquire new customers and keep existing ones.
"Whilst 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. This survey indicates that organisations who have not yet ventured into the world of social networking may be missing out on sizeable business opportunities. This is particularly the case in the Netherlands (48 per cent), India (52 per cent), Mexico (50 per cent) and Spain (50 per cent), where the highest level of new customer acquisition via social networking was reported."
Regus is involved in office and workplace outsourcing, catering services to Google, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nokia and thousands of growing small and medium businesses.