Ethos Public Relations Manchester

2010 - the year of social media?

by Shaun

Millions of people already use networking websites for social purposes - chatting, making friends, sharing photos and videos etc - but, to date, the use of social networks by UK businesses to communicate to their customers seems to have been somewhat sporadic and random. Of course, for those in the creative industries (including PR) 'social media', or communications based around conversations and two way dialogue on the internet, has been all the rage for what seems like ages, but for other sectors there's some catching up to do.

When I read recently that M&S are developing their use of social networking sites to engage more directly with their customers online, it struck me that this will have a huge impact not only on how high street retailers operate in future, but on the development of the economy as a whole. From recent client research I did, I'm aware that many of the 'young fashion' oriented retailers, such as Top Shop and River Island, already have a significant social network presence - whether on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc. In fact, M&S itself already has a Facebook group with over 90,000 followers. This level of engagement is not yet the case for all fashion retailers, but where M&S lead, the rest are likely to follow.

Other evidence also tends to indicate that, whereas up until now social media was just an optional add-on for many businesses - assuming they had even thought about it! - 2010 will be a watershed year, with many finally realising they need to allocate resources and expertise to make it happen, or risk missing the boat and losing out to more social media savvy competitors.

By enabling organisations to reach a huge audience of interested individuals easily and quickly, social media has the potential to become the hub of a business's (two-way) communications. I wonder how many people - never mind organisations - yet realise this.

Of course, it would be wrong to think social media will take over from all other forms of communication, but I think it will play an increasingly important role feeding into and guiding communications strategies for orgnaisations - and 2010 could be the year when UK businesses really embrace it.

Besides, if you can set up a Facebook group and drive sales of half a million singles in three and a half weeks (cf this year's Christmas number one) - businesses and organisations of all types would be daft not to pursue social networking opportunities on the web - and quickly!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

(Photo by Maggie Smith, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Posted at 1:10pm on 22^nd December 2009