While consumer social like Facebook and Twitter gets the headlines, perhaps the greatest untapped potential for social networking lies in business applications.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Social media has shaken up the world of sales, with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter offering new ways to hound leads and unprecedented insights into clients.
Social media is here to stay, and the social phenomenon that is bringing this about is consumers' willingness to share more about themselves, share more about what they're doing... people are even willing to disclose where they're at. And this phenomenon is going to create huge commerce opportunities on the web.
I think social media, it in a way forces companies to be more authentic or more transparent because it gives a voice to the consumer and a reach to the consumer that they didn't have before.
Importantly, companies are using social media to do things that go way beyond just chatting up existing customers on Facebook. Sales departments use social to nurture leads and close sales. HR posts job openings and vets applicants. Community and support squads mine networks, blogs and forums with deep listening tools.
The creative destruction that social media is currently unleashing will change more than technology or the leader board of the Fortune 100. It is driving a qualitative shift in the nature of relationships between brands and their customers.
All the social things the consumer has gotten used to are being applied to business.
The biggest potential of Facebook is that people can build networks. For business persons, it means that they can build their list of leads, which they can look upon as prospects for furthering their business.
The growing role of enterprise social media, plus the growing budgets and authority of CMOs entrusted with choosing the best platforms, translates into an exciting future for apps that harness social potential for large companies.
The most potentially transformative impact of social media is its ability to encourage brands to marry profit and purpose. The reason brands participate is that such outreach earns those companies social currency enabling them to start or participate in conversations that connect them to consumers in meaningful ways.
No matter how much we tweet, blog and post, nothing in business is as powerful as actual face time with prospective business partners and customers.
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