For all of those out there in companies with no social media presence or that dont “allow” social media activities at work, here is a nice article to print out and pass around. Usually improving the bottom line does get the right people’s attention. It’s also interesting to note some of the less-hyped ways social contributes to the bottom line – for example savings in recruiting costs (sorry recruiters) and telephone usage. Makes sense.
I have pretty much dropped the whole rah rah social media thing because it has become too much of a business. I’d rather be social with the people and companies being social, and leave the dream selling to others. The only thing I stand by is this: Not ALL social media is right for everyone, but NO social media is wrong for everyone!
The $1.3 Trillion Price Of Not Tweeting At Work
BY RYAN HOLMES
On June 6, Larry Ellison–CEO of Oracle, one of the largest and most advanced computer technology corporations in the world–tweeted for the very first time. In doing so, he joined a club that remains surprisingly elite. Among CEOs of the world’s Fortune 500 companies, a mere 20 have Twitter accounts. Ellison, by the way, hasn’t tweeted since.
As social media spreads around the globe, one enclave has proven stubbornly resistant: the boardroom. Within the C-suite, perceptions remain that social media is at best a soft PR tool and at worst a time sink for already distracted employees. Without a push from the top, many of the biggest companies have been slow to take the social media plunge.
A new report from McKinsey Global Institute, however, makes the business case for social media a little easier to sell. According to an analysis of 4,200 companies by the business consulting giant, social technologies stand to unlock from $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value. At the high end, that approaches Australia’s annual GDP. How’s that for a bottom line?
Savings comes from some unexpected places. Two-thirds of the value unlocked by social media rests in “improved communications and collaboration within and across enterprises,” according to the report. Far from a distraction, in other words, social media proves a surprising boon to productivity.
Behind this laundry list is a more hefty benefit. Social technologies have the potential to free up expertise trapped in departmental silos. High-skill workers can now be tapped company-wide. Managers can find out “which employees have the deepest knowledge in certain subjects, or who last contributed to a project and how to get in touch with them quickly,” saysNew York Times tech reporter Quentin Hardy. Just cutting email out of the picture in favor of social sharing translates to a productivity windfall as “more enterprise information becomes accessible and searchable, rather than locked up as ‘dark matter’ in inboxes.”
continues at: The $1.3 Trillion Price Of Not Tweeting At Work | Fast Company.
