Companies are leveraging the benefits of social networking site Facebook - and this trend will only grow in the future, says online marketing group Popimedia.
Daniel Levy, CEO of Popimedia, says companies have “absolutely” embraced Facebook in the past few years. Popimedia has created a proprietary viral marketing system, which links clients' Web sites and product offerings with Facebook.
“The value of the social networking site in online marketing is that credible referrals are made in a trusted environment,” says Levy.
The playing field is growing and is set to increase significantly in the next few years, he adds. When Facebook opened its platform to third-party developers in 2007, companies were introduced to the value of social networking sites, he explains. Online marketing voluntarily became a trusted marketing referral system operating within the parameters of Facebook.
According to Popimedia, the ability to use customised Facebook applications has been developed to assist clients to achieve their objectives.
The results of several case studies indicate social networking is increasing in value in the business environment, says Levy. “The site [Facebook] allows for the convergence of many applications into a single environment - users want a one-stop shop experience. It's continuously evolving.”
Unblock Facebook
While companies turn to Facebook to improve their profiles and conduct recruitment, some still continue to block its usage at the office.
This practice, however, does not guarantee employees stay off the social networking site. There are several Internet sites which either offer users information on how to unblock access, or offer proxy servers, which allow users to bypass office policies and gain access to the site.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says company policy should be judged individually. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution,” he says. The challenge he poses to companies is to look for ways to harness the use of Facebook.
Collaboration is key, Goldstuck says. “Some companies who have blocked the site would benefit if they looked at ways of leveraging it for various forms of collaboration, for networking within the organisation and across organisations.”
Attracting younger employees also necessitates a closer look at a business's Facebook policy, says Goldstuck. Companies that block Facebook are “immediately freezing out a chunk of new recruits” - the younger generation regard it as part of their identity and will consider such policies before accepting a job offer.
Innovative solutions
As companies search for new ways to leverage social networking, some have already started adopting it as an instant messaging tool.
However, Goldstuck says instant messaging is a far more effective communication tool than Facebook. He cautions companies against using a “complex system for a simple task”. For the phone, there's Mxit, and on the computer, there's Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, which, he says, are simple and effective.
Facebook is today what Google was a few years ago, says Levy. It has become the biggest trend in the world today, with an impressive growth rate - five million new users per week globally. Business cannot afford to ignore it, he concludes.
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