:Nu 6 by JS Use of Social Media by IBM for Internal Communication

Social Media is defined as "media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques … the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communications into interactive dialogue. "[1] The more common forms of social media today includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype and blogs among others. Social media has grown in tremendous popularity and its usage as widespread and diverse as ever. Social media has not only become a tool to connect with peers and family members but is also a means to promote marketing, public relations and even learning.

Albeit widely used, acceptance on the use of social media in the workplace still raises varying perspectives and opinions. On one hand, there are companies that allow employees to access social media sites while at work. Companies that promote the use of social media see it as valuable particularly in building customer relationships, collaboration and market research. An informal survey conducted by Proskauer, on the other hand, indicates that there are more companies that prohibit the use of social media in the workplace so much so that these sites have already been blocked. Companies who disallow its use see it a real form of distraction that poses a risk to productivity and makes the occurrence of errors more susceptible.

IBM Corporation, the world's second most valuable technology company and a forerunner in pioneering new business practices, brings a new dimension into the use and application of social media in the workplace. IBM Vice-president for Social Business and Collaboration Solutions Sales and Evangelism, Sandy Carter, said at the Management Association of the Philippines CEO conference last September that the company has recognized how social media contributes to the revenue of the company. "It found that employees who had active (online) social relationships would bring in $700 in revenue per contact, and for every executive contact, it would bring in $7,000 in revenue … These social relationships are good for the bottomline" Carter said.[2] This thus prompted IBM to embrace the use of social media, establish guidelines and elevate it to the next level as a social business – one that encompasses the organization and business processes.

As a social business, IBM leverages on the use of collaboration tools and social networking to enable global teams to work effectively. It allows the organization to be three things – "engaged, nimble and transparent."[3] With over 436,000 employees working in 170 countries using about 17,000 blogs, 1 million daily views of internal wikis and 20 million minutes of LotusLive meetings monthly IBM indeed is a Social Business. In the process of allowing employees to engage in social media, the company has also observed that the value of the IBM brand has increased.

Cognizant of the power of social media and its many uses, this encourages this author to think of the many ways by which we can leverage on new technologies and new platforms to create, to cultivate, to harness and to sustain new businesses. As aspiring entrepreneurs, social media can indeed be used to one's advantage to create brand and product/service awareness, build rapport with customers, promote one's product and monitor operations among others.

The following are some ideas of how one can leverage the use of social media as a business strength:

1. As a new marketplace – Tools like facebook and multiply can be used as a platform to sell and advertise one's product and services. More and more entrepreneurs who lack financial capital have maximized the use of social media to penetrate the marketplace, promote their products and build a customer base. Social media has definitely leveled the playing field in that transactions are now borderless and time zone-free. A new entrant can now be in the same marketplace side by side with well established companies from other parts of the globe.

2. As a communication medium – One video that has recently circulated in You Tube and Facebook is the Chris Lao – BPI Auto Loan Commercial. Even without having to air the commercial over national TV, the video has become talk of the town gaining interest from its intended target market. With that, use of social media can be used as a medium to launch a product and create promotional materials. A compelling video in You Tube or an attention grabbing picture in Flickr or similar sites can indeed create a viral effect. Use of Twitter and blogs to complement this can also work to ones advantage to create awareness and build brand recall.

3. As a research and customer feedback tool – One of the strengths of social media is its ability to encourage anyone and everyone to express themselves and voice out their opinions real time. Its ability to promote communication and ultimately collaboration can indeed be highly beneficial to one's business. Use of social media then can be used to gather market insight and customer's receptiveness on a new product or new service that a business will want to launch or venture into. In the same way, it can be used to gather how satisfied or dissatisfied the market is with one's product as it not only allows for positive feedback but customer complaints and suggestions as well. All of these inputs will come in very useful as an entrepreneur seeks to gain micro market insight and mastery of his or her existing and potential customer base.

4. As a business management system – Use of applications like google docs can promote collaboration within the business organization. For businesses operating in various locations, use of social media can be used to track inventories and financial outcomes real time. In the same way, hiring, training and business/team meetings can also be done via Skype and ooVoo as needed. Use of these technologies can supplement face-to-face interactions and can fill in the gaps whenever distance and time become a challenge.

5. As a means to expand ones network – Use of networking sites like LinkedIn can help promote one's business and the personalities behind the business. Moreover, it can also allow one to gain best practices and insights from key resource persons from the industry. In the same manner, sourcing of suppliers, potential customers and business partners can also be facilitated through these established networks.3