Social Drives Business Success

A recent Google MillwardBrown survey in Europe showed that 81% of high growth businesses are using social tools to drive growth

This is certainly an interesting correlation but of course it doesn't mean that we should dive head first into every social application available to us.


I heard an interview with Rick Wion. Director of Social Media at Macdonalds ( iStrategy San Francisco 2012)who was asked about how they evaluated what Social tools to use. He correctly pointed out that it wasn’t about choosing a technology that solved a business application but one that ’relevancy for our customers’ and so help MacDonalds reach their marketing goals.

Social is everywhere but it is not the same thing to everyone.

Social has become big at double speed because it gives people a way of doing what comes naturally to them, expressing themselves, whether that be the sharing of stories, complaining, giving advice or just generally hanging out for no real reason.

But you can’t crowbar Social into your Marketing Programmes. It’s either a natural fit or it isn’t. 

It doesn’t have to involve a ‘conversation’ between you and the consumer, but it could be a way of you giving the consumers an opportunity to talk with each other, or just allow people to win stuff!!

So for Social don’t just see Facebook and Twitter. Also see blogs, communities, forums, ratings and reviews and so on.
( original post here) 


And as is expressed in the report, let's not forget the importance that social tools can play inside a business as well.


The chart below from the report shows how social tools are used and their impact to connect people and share ideas

But the tools are seen as making real contributions to this as well as saving time, improving quality and cutting costs.

We all know that Social is here to stay, but it would seem that it's here to stay and improves the way we run our businesses as well.

Report can be downloaded here