9xb - Creating Online Success

DOES FACEBOOK REALLY HAVE A VALUE TO BUSINESS?

The BBC sagely reports that businesses are ‘missing out’ on potential savings offered by using Facebook and other social media sites as communication tools. Gartner – the huge multinational consulting group – reckon that office emails often go unread and that companies can harness social media to interact with what they grandly call “distributed groups.” Their argument is that companies can talk with their employees through social media, saving time and money and talking more on employees’ wavelength, rather than coldly communicating through email circulars.

We’re sceptical.

You can date the moment at which MySpace began to decline to the moment that it’s advertising formats began to intrude too largely into its users’ personal spaces

One of the major appeals of social media is precisely because it sits outside the sphere of work. People who use sites like Facebook (or Bebo, MySpace, Whatever) do so to reach people who they don’t work with. Old friends, chance acquaintances made online – even ‘actual’ friends and relatives. A few presses on the keyboard and you can let friends around the world know that you’re hungry, angry with Bono or in desperate need of a bath.

Conversations in spaces like this are often spontaneous, scatological, libellous and nonsensical. Despite that, users take care whenever they add new comments. After all, this is their chance to create an online persona that is perhaps funnier or more daring than their day-to-day real life would suggest.

Companies straying into this field run a potential risk of invading what is a very personal space. If memos from bosses start turning up in your Facebook inbox it’s crossing an informal – but very important – line between work and personal time.

So does social media have a function for business?

If memos from bosses start turning up in your Facebook inbox it’s crossing an informal – but very important – line between work and personal time

The short answer is yes: in plain old, common-or-garden advertising. Social media sites have an enormous power built into them when it comes to accurately segmenting and targeting advertising audiences. If you have a MySpace account, then MySpace know your postcode, age, sex, browsing habits, music tastes and reams of other stuff that canny advertisers can buy into.

Should you be ploughing your hard-earned into advertising on Facebook then? The answer is still only "possibly." Despite the advantages social media offer over something like traditional search, no site has yet managed to create an ad format that is sufficiently attractive to users to actually respond to. You can date the moment of MySpace’s decline to the moment that it’s advertising formats began to intrude too largely into its users’ personal spaces. Facebook to date has fairly discreet ad units, but its targeting remains relatively poor and clickthrough rates are minimal. Successful advertisers have to work hard to create something original and compelling enough to draw clicks away from that pressing need felt by Facebook users need to join campaigns to bring back confectionary of yesteryear.

Despite that, now is a good time to think about how you can utilise social media through other angles. The so called "Facebook applications" - small programs that run within Facebook - can have a very strong viral effect if they are compelling and fun. And if you can create an offering through your advertising that makes an entertaining diversion, you can attract clicks to your website in the name of branding or sales.

If you're looking for an entry into the social media space, don't even think about starting a page for your company - you'll look out of touch at best, and chances are your employees will snigger at you behind their hands.

Today's Moral?

Like anything else online - understanding the motivations of the audience is key to making social media work for you. If you're planning to send company updates to your employees or spy on their activities, don't be surprised when they express their displeasure. If you're thinking of advertising, work hard to create something even more compelling than the chance to throw a sheep at an old school friend!

OTHER ARTICLES

• Is Twitter Useful?