The social media world is connecting companies to the outside market more and more these days. However, it’s also an avenue for companies to communicate internally as well. This is a social media evolution that is going to spread like wild fire for global companies, especially when they see the value of time saved when trying to stay ahead of the competition while rolling out a new product or strategy.
An internal communication network, such as an employee Facebook page that is private, and only for staff to inform them of policy changes, holiday parties, employee recognition, or feedback when requested. The ability for a company to do a global survey, for special events, business conferences, understanding a new change and so much more by posting it on Facebook and everyone knows to hit “like” for yes and “comment” for no will be common place shortly.
Ericsson has been a telecommunications giant for over 75 years and have been ten years ahead of their industry. Their innovation is genius and all they need is the same marketing genius to push their products to the frontline for then to surpass Apple and Samsung. They created a touch pad ten years before the iPad came out, but it failed. I don’t think any of us can imagine the iPad failing, but that’s because we live in a time when social media and the ease of a thousands of apps are the norm. It’s a respectable business model to stick to focus on being the best in your industry, but the world needs to be hyped up about it for the value to be claimed. Ericsson does have a social media department, but it’s not running anywhere near its full potential.
Volvo, the leading safety car manufacturing company had a similar response to social media. They understand its value but they aren’t maximizing it. They have extensive data and proven results on the safety of their cars, but there was little to no data on how social media has improved brand recognition or regional sales. The great thing about this information for a group of MBA students, especially for those interested in a marketing job over seas, is there seems to be plenty of opportunity out there.
