Aussie businesses lagging in social media use

Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 07:07

IT Industry - Market

Australian companies and organisations are seemingly lagging behind their US counterparts in the use of social media for engagement with customers and employees, with many Aussie organisations ‘looking and learning’, and others still not paying attention at all to the new medium.

A survey of 400 US companies by Deloitte indicates continued “maturation of the companies’ use of communities and social media,” although Deloitte says that, even in the United States, while companies are “effectively using online tools to engage with customers, partners, and employees for brand discussion and idea generation,” they still “continue to struggle with harnessing social media’s full potential.”

However, a look at the Australian market – albeit a ‘straw poll’ – by Deloitte, found that while some companies and organisations are “embracing it (social media)”, both for their customers and employees, others are still “looking and learning, and many still aren’t paying attention.”

According to Katherine Milesi, a partner of Deloitte’s Online Practice in Australia, it is still early days for Australian organisations and social media, and she said the straw poll of a small group of company directors of the top 200 ASX companies about their awareness of social media, found that “very few knew much about it,” with only one from a group of 10 saying it was a topic of discussion in the boardroom, “yet there was unanimous agreement it should be.”

Milesi said that “social media can drive real business results in the form of increased awareness and promotion, brand building, productivity savings, lower cost customer service, increased employee engagement and more.

“The key stumbling point for many organisations is their reluctance to relinquish control.   Yet what they fail to realise is that this is happening already.  People form impressions of organisations through a myriad of sources, including an array of social media vehicles.   Gone are the days when the annual report, the website, the ad campaign, the PR campaign and the AGM were the key image shapers for an organisation.”

Milesi said the first step for any organisation wanting to adopt social media for their external audiences is to listen and learn.  “You need to become aware of the tribe mentality of online communities, a far cry from prevailing mindset of customer as number.”

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