The use of social media tools by enterprises is growing steadily. The main applications are the monitoring of online discussions, information sharing, as well as customer feedback and the monitoring of business information. In the future, social media tools will be increasingly internally used in corporations and as sales support, for instance, in the search for sales arguments or future project identification. The subject was tackled at a seminar by online monitoring specialists M-Brain, attended by more than 60 media professionals.

Social media refers to the tools, whereby individuals and companies are able to create, share and comment on online content. The most popular social media tools used by businesses are blogs, Wikis and solutions for chat monitoring.

"Social media is like an old-fashioned square, where everyone can express themselves. It provides employees, customers and other stakeholders with an opportunity to participate in the debate and to communicate directly with each other. However, companies need to change their way of thinking to benefit from social media: they have to be willing to listen and to participate in the debate too, "said M-Brain CEO Marjukka Nyberg.

Companies’ use of social media often starts in their external communication, such as companies' own blogs. In the future, social media tools will be increasingly used to support companies’ operational activities, and internally.

"With the help of social media, companies can search for direct sales arguments, obtain customer feedback regarding the most common problems or identify sales opportunities in advance. This makes the monitoring of the discussion a part of the company's daily business. Of crucial importance is the refinement of the information gathered from social media, into a form that differents user groups within the company are able to take advantage of," Nyberg continued.

Social media tools will be used to an increasing extent in internal corporate communications and as an intranet supplement. Their use can facilitate information-sharing through intranet and increase cooperation and communication between workers.

"The use of social media within companies can aid the understanding of what information is essential. When employees are able to freely exchange information with each other, there is no need for endless amounts of documents, memos and meetings. At best, social media tools have halved the amount of internal e-mails and meetings," said Nyberg.

For more information:

Marjukka Nyberg, M Brain, marjukka.nyberg[a]m-brain.fi, 040 722 7712
Press Materials, Ville Lehtovirta, ville.lehtovirta[a]aleksinkaiku.fi, 050 346 6946

M-Brain Oy is an information services company specialising in network monitoring. M Brain’s service combines the company’s own sophisticated search technology and human media content filtering, editing and analysis. For its customers, the company produces fast and relevant information to support decision-making. For more information, visit www.m-brain.com.