Social Rewards for Australian Businesses

Social networking has become a mainstream business tool in Australia with fully 41% of businesses having successfully used social networks to win new business, reveals a new global survey commissioned by global workspace solutions provider Regus.

Testimony to the faith businesses are now putting in the social networking medium is seen in the revelation that well over a quarter of Australian businesses (26%) have set aside a proportion of marketing budget – hard cash – specifically devoted to social networking activities.

Up to now, relatively little analysis is available regarding the real use businesses are making of social networking and whether hard business can be generated through this channel. To glean whether businesses globally believe that social networking is ready to take its place among an array of marketing tools, the Regus survey asked business leaders not only whether they had made any customer wins using social networking, but also whether they believed the channel effective enough to be awarded its own portion of marketing budget.

Globally, social networks are still used for their original range of functions. The most popular use of social networks is staying in touch with business contacts, with 58% of respondents globally declaring they use networks in this way. Joining special interest groups is also popular (54%). Although a number of sceptics (34%) believe social networking will never become a significant method of connecting to customers and prospects, a full 51% of firms organise, connect to or manage customer groups via social networks. 54% of firms use social networks to find out useful business information. Surprisingly, however, only 22% of respondents had found new employment through social networking, this in spite of the specific job search functions of networks such as LinkedIn.

In Australia specifically over a quarter (26%) of businesses have set aside a proportion of marketing budget specifically devoted to social networking activities. 52% of respondents in Australia used social networking to keep in touch with contacts, slightly below the global average of 58% and 45% declared that the main usefulness of social networks was the possibility to manage and connect to customer groups compared to the 51% average. Less than a third of respondents (29%) were sceptical that social networking could ever become an effective customer retention or prospecting tool compared to the 34% global average.

William Willems, Vice President for Australia & New Zealand at Regus, comments; “Our groundbreaking global survey has revealed that social networking has finally become a mainstream business tool. Although there is a hardcore of sceptics globally, who do not believe that social networks will become a significant method of reaching customers and prospects, a significant proportion of firms are devoting real marketing budgets through the medium to acquire new customers and keep existing ones.”

“Whilst the most popular function of these networks remains that of keeping in touch with contacts, businesses are also successfully acquiring new customers, supporting their retention efforts and interacting with customer groups. This survey indicates that organisations who have not yet ventured into the world of social networking may be missing out on sizeable business opportunities. This is particularly the case in the Netherlands (48%), India (52%), Mexico (50%) and Spain (50%), where the highest level of new customer acquisition via social networking was reported.”

The survey also analysed company size differences and found that overall small companies were a little more likely than average to use social networking. In Australia 43% of small companies had successfully found new customers through social networks compared to 30% of large companies although more large companies (30%) than small firms (23%) actively devote marketing budget to this activity. Turning the global trend encountered by the survey on its head, employees of larger firms were less likely to have found employment via social networking (22%) compared to smaller firms (25%).

On a sector basis, 7% more consultancy companies had found new customers through social networking than the global average of 40%. It is thus unsurprising that in Australia this sector should have a smaller number of social networking sceptics (23%) compared to the 34% global average. 33% of ICT companies have devoted part of their marketing budget to social networking compared to the 27% global average. In addition to this a full 67% of ICT companies declared themselves impressed by audio/video animation on a company profile.

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About Regus

Regus is the world’s leading global provider of innovative workspace solutions, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the world’s largest network of video communication studios. Regus delivers a new way to work, whether it’s from home, on the road or from an office. Clients such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nokia join thousands of growing small and medium businesses that benefit from outsourcing their office and workplace needs to Regus, allowing them to focus on their core business.

Over 650,000 clients a day benefit from Regus facilities spread across a global footprint of more than 1000 locations in 450 cities and 85 countries, which allow individuals and companies to work wherever, however and whenever they want to. For more information please visit: www.regus.com.au

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