Our Love-Hate Relationship With Enterprise Social Networking
In honor of Valentine's Day, we offer 10 things to love about social networking in the enterprise, and 10 things that are leaving businesses cold. (In some cases, they are one and the same.)
Social networking is a relatively new thing for most enterprises. And like most new relationships, we keep discovering things we love and things we hate about our new partner. Here are some examples of both, and I'm sure you have a few to add yourself. So jump in and add to the list in the comments section below.
10 Things To Love
1. Increased levels of collaboration: The use of internal and external social networks has opened up new lines and levels of communication and collaboration for many businesses.
2. Flatter hierarchies, more opportunities: If anyone from the company can be the "friends" with the CEO, anyone's ideas can go straight to the top.
3. New customer service channels: Savvy use of Facebook, Twitter, and other networks has enabled companies to provide internal and external customer support in new, and often less costly, ways.
4. Closer relationships with customers: Through the use of social networks, companies are able to engage more closely with customers and hear--often in real time--exactly what they like and don't like.
5. Free marketing: You can pay to market your products and business on public social networks, but there are lots of very effective things companies can do for free.
[ Looking for a list of the world's movers and shakers? Check Facebook: The Database Of Wealth And Power. ]
6. Increased website traffic: Social networks provide new pathways for promoting Web content.
7. Increased sales: What's not to love about increased sales? Companies are making use of social networks to promote products and leverage positive customer reviews and comments in ways that are driving sales.
8. Data, data, data: There are volumes of data generated from social networking activities, and that data can be effectively mined to make sound, informed business decisions moving forward.
9. New levels of customization: Companies are taking advantage of new apps and development tools to make their social network presence rival any website.
10. Uncharted territory: Business social networking is still largely uncharted territory, and virtually anything is possible.
