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5 Ways Social Media Will Change The Way You Work in 2013

















Eric Savitz, Forbes Staff













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Guest post written by Ryan Holmes

Ryan Holmes is CEO of HootSuite, a social media management system with 5 million users.



Ryan Holmes


In the nine short years since Mark Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com, social media has evolved from dorm room toy to boardroom tool. Last year, 73 percent of Fortune 500 companies were active on Twitter, while more than 80 percent of executives believed social media engagement led to increased sales.

So what does 2013 hold for social media in the workplace? It looks
like many of the big (and sometimes overhyped) promises that have
surrounded social media – better insight into customer behavior,
improved office productivity with internal networks and, of course,
signficant, measurable ROI – will finally begin to bear fruit. Here’s a
look at five ways social media will impact the way we work and the
bottom line in 2013.

• Social media goes company-wide

Thus far, social media has largely been limited to marketing and community building functions at companies. But a recent report from McKinsey
showed that a majority of the estimated $1.3 trillion in untapped value
from social technologies lies in “improved communications and
collaboration within and across enterprises.” In other words, social
media is poised to become an office productivity tool, much the same way that email did in the late 1990s.

Already, HR departments are using social media to connect with job
seekers and streamline the application process. Sales teams use social
media to generate leads and track clients as they move through the sales
funnel. Operations and distribution teams forecast supply chains, while
research and development squads brainstorm product ideas. In 2013, the
idea that social media is a soft, networking tool will slowly give way
to its acceptance as a serious business tool.

• Email use declines as better communication channels open

Politics Dominate Twitter's Year In Review






Alex Kantrowitz
Contributor












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Social Media And The Consumer











Video:
Social Media's Big Data Problem


</aside>The basic idea of email has remained essentially
unchanged since the first networked message was sent in 1971. And while
email is great for one-on-one, formal correspondence, there are far better tools for collaboration.
In fact, instant messaging and wikis have already become office
fixtures, allowing for real-time communication and centralized
information sharing.

But increasingly powerful communication tools are also available, which borrow features from popular networks like Facebook and bring them into the office. In 2013, expect to see internal business networks like Yammer and Chatter
make serious inroads into enterprise settings, enabling employees to
form virtual work groups and exchange ideas on centralized message
boards. Among the greatest virtues of these tools is their ability to
unlock the “dark matter” normally trapped in email inboxes, making
relevant content accessible and searchable for the entire company.

• Social media command centers become mainstream

Social media has given companies access to unprecedented amounts of
information on client behavior and preferences – so-called Big Data. But
making sense of it all and turning it into actionable policy has been
elusive. Larger organizations – including Gatorade, Dell and the Super Bowl, as well as the Red Cross – have led the way here, pioneering dedicated command centers
for real-time monitoring and analysis. Social media mission control
rooms are staffed by multiple employees, the centers outfitted with
banks of screens tracking everything from tweets and Likes to customer
sentiment, using a range of analytical software.

In 2013, expect to see this same technology streamlined and made
accessible for a broad range of businesses and organizations eager to
make sense of their social data. New tools can now compress entire
“command centers” onto single monitors and even smartphone screens. At a
glance, directors and department heads can see real-time analysis of
social metrics and use this to inform business decisions. These tools
are already being used by Nestle to track customer sentiment, GE to speed up repairs to the electrical grid, the auto industry to predict recalls, Wall Street to forecast stock prices and T-Mobile to prevent customer defections.

• Social media compliance becomes a priority

In June of this year, Morgan Stanley – and its 18,000 advisors – entered the Twittersphere.
This decision wasn’t made lightly. The same strict SEC rules that
govern the firm’s communications with the public and stakeholders on
traditional channels, from magazine ads to print brochures, extend to
social media. Every last tweet and Facebook post, in other words,
represents a potential lawsuit.

And it’s not just financial services that face scrutiny.
Any sector that sees its communications regulated, from food and
healthcare to pharmaceuticals and government, must ensure that its
social media is compliant. Many industries, for instance, require that
all social messaging – each and every work-related update – be archived
for at least three years. While all of this isn’t terribly exciting, it
does represent a significant regulatory hurdle for companies
increasingly reliant on social media.

Fortunately, technology has kept pace. In 2013, expect to see
companies turn to business-grade social media management systems that
feature built-in archiving (Social media management systems are software
for managing multiple social profiles across different networks). Many
of these tools also come with access to online training programs and
webinars designed to bring employees up to speed on industry-specific
compliance issues.

• International and niche social networks present new challenges

While savvy companies may have unlocked the secrets
of doing business on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, a host of
new networks has suddenly entered the picture. This year, Instagram saw
its share of social media traffic
grow by 17,319 percent, while Pinterest grew by 5,124 percent. 2013
will likely see the ascent of brand new players. According to analyst James Murray of Experian,
“Offering deeper functionality combined with a lower technical barrier
to entry will mean new leaders in social media being created in a matter
of days versus weeks and months.”

At the same time, international social networking is entering a phase of dramatic growth.
In 2013, new users are expected to grow by 21.1 percent in Asia-Pacific
(including China, India and Indonesia), 23.3 percent in the Middle East
and Africa and 12.6 percent in Latin America. Last year alone, China’s
Twitter-like Sina Weibo nearly doubled its base to 400 million users
(easily surpassing Twitter’s 170 million active users). What does this
all mean? Brands and companies leveraging social media in 2013 will have
to monitor and engage in an expanding ecosystem of social networks.
Expect social media management systems to become as common as email
clients as companies work to streamline and automate this process.

Last year, Harvard Business Review surveyed 2,100 companies
and found that 79 percent use or plan to use social media. But a mere
12 percent of those firms felt they were using social media effectively.
2013 should see this frustrating gap between social media hype and
reality begin to close as new social technologies take root, companies
institutionalize social practices and improved analytical tools show the
real ROI on social investments.

Also on Forbes:


10 Myths About Social Networking For Business







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Ten Myths About Social Networking For Business


There is so much noise about social media, much of it not
very helpful. Myths about how and why to use these networks abound, spread by
networking neophytes and so-called experts (like me) alike. What none of us can
afford is to stand by and watch it all unfold, for there is money to be made.
Here, then, is a comprehensive guide to networking misconceptions, each
accompanied by a tangible action plan that you can take right now.