During the year, we’ve been showing how online engagement and social media channels are emerging as an ideal platform for large companies to share their corporate responsibility (CR) story with stakeholders – economic, environmental, social. Indeed, it’s a particularly powerful combination given that both CR and social media are rooted in the principles of authenticity, transparency, credibility, collaboration and learning from your community to build a better, stronger business.
Opportunities for companies to inform and engage key stakeholders around their CR initiatives continues to increase as understanding and usage of social media becomes more sophisticated. At the large company level, resources and staff time can be funnelled into figuring out the best way proceed. But what about the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector? Last week’s blog looked at the key differences between big businesses and SMEs, and the fact that CR looks a lot different to SMEs.
Despite the challenges, it’s smart for SMEs to invest time and energy into CR. With an awareness of big picture trends, an intimate knowledge of their business and barriers they may face, savvy SMEs can embrace the principles of CR and implement more responsible business practices. This allows them to develop competitive advantages and become resilient and agile in a fast-changing environment. This is all the more important in times of economic uncertainty and rising energy prices. And, while doing this, why not spread the message of their good work?
It’s rare for any business to be without a website these days, and, taking it a step further, SME interest and investment in social media is also growing. Yellow Pages, in conjunction with the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA), recently released a survey of 1,951 Australian businesses to understand how they’re using social media.
The 2012 Yellow™ Social Media Report found that 27% of small businesses (up from 14% in 2011) and 34% of medium businesses (up from 25% in 2011) are harnessing the power of social media. The research showed that most businesses expect their social media investment will contribute to revenue growth over the next 12 months, with the majority of SMEs believing social media will play a key role in marketing and reputation management and, in turn, help increase sales.
As pointed out last week, the main driver for CR amongst SME’s is that it generally fits in with the vision of the owner/manager and their views of the world (ie. it’s just who they are). They can leverage their CR communications to further improve their reputation and image amongst a wider community.
Unlike a big business with a dedicated Marketing/Comms team, the owner/manager is generally responsible for the SM presence. So, on top of looking after day-to-day operations, forward thinking owners are also exploring how to communicate in a way that resonates with a broader range of stakeholders. Social media can allow these businesses to amplify the good work they’re doing.
The pressure on SMEs to stay in business is intense. Communicating and engaging via social media presents a great opportunity to stand out. The growth in the amount of users and flows of information being communicated over the internet is phenomenal. In December 1995, there were 16 million users on the internet (0.4% of the world population), while in December 2011, there were 2,267 million users (32.7% of the world population)[1].
With improving internet infrastructures (broadband, cloud computing), increasing access (cheaper computers, smartphones, video cameras, tablets) and innovative platform development (blogs, apps, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) we can expect this landscape to continue its rapid evolution.
The online world has been fully embraced by the public. Customers, employees, the local community and other interested stakeholders are talking about organisations and their brands in an online space where they are spending increasing amounts of time. A business needs to be where its audience is. SMEs need to adjust to the idea that many of their users are not only online and in the cloud but are talking about their products and services while they’re there. In essence, SMEs who are not engaged in social media risk being left behind and lose business to competitors who are. Those who are also spruiking their CR messages and initiatives via social media are even further advanced.
Shane Gladigau
Some good companies to check out:
equilblog 
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