Many companies today use social media platforms as a main tool in their work. Still, the majority of executives are concerned about the social media risks for their businesses.
According to a study by the Financial Executives Research Foundation and Grand Thornton, 71% of senior-level company executives are worried about social media risks. About 13% of them share that they are “very concerned” about it. Despite that, the majority of them are confident that all potential social media risks can be either avoided or easily handled.
The report also lists some of executives biggest fears connected with their company’s social media use. Their top worry is negative comments on social websites. More than 35% of execs state that this is their main concern. Second, with 32%, is the risk of disclosing proprietary information. It is followed by out-of-date information (18%) and fraud (17%). Interestingly, not even one executive that participated in the survey is worried about corporate executives’ use of personal social media.
It is clear that social media keeps executives on edge. Nevertheless, not many companies make social media risk assessment. In fact, less than 60% of businesses do that.
No matter the risks and the executives’ concerns, companies are becoming more and more open to social media websites. Over 65% of execs share that their company’s social media use has increased over the past one year. In addition, nearly 70% think that social media plays a key role in the company’s future growth and development. Of course, there are some who believe that social media is not worth using. However, they amounted to barely 1%.
Unsurprisingly, most companies rely on social media to increase brand awareness (38%). An impressive 27% use it to recruit new employees. Another 14% use social websites to learn more about their consumers.
The rising popularity of social media among companies has also lead to more social media training. The report informs that only for two years, social media training has jumped with 15%.
Therefore, it can be said, that social media websites are a risk that companies need to take, no matter whether they like it or not. However, the risk can be calculated by outsourcing the social media presence of your company to a social media expert, such as New Media Group.
