'Facebook and Twitter are revolutionising business'

By Alistair Houghton on Aug 27, 09 02:50 PM

AN INTERNATIONAL management expert has told Merseyside firms that they ignore social media at their peril.
Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have grown massively in recent years as part of the "Web 2.0" explosion and many businesses now use them as marketing tools.
Soumitra Dutta, co-author of a book on social media called Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom, believes such websites are having a "revolutionary" effect on society.

Prof Dutta, who spoke at a conference in Liverpool this week, said companies should not miss out on the benefits that social networking could bring in helping them stay in touch with their clients and customers.
He said: "Companies should actively integrate the applications of social media into their own strategic goals.
"For most companies social media provides very valuable approaches to some strategic issues, such as branding.
"Most companies need to know about customer service failures or other issues.
"Social media can be a great way of engaging with stakeholders.
"I would find it hard to think of a company for whom social media is not useful.
"The key is that it is linked appropriately with the strategic goals of the organisation - don't just jump on the bandwagon but think about how it links to what you're doing."
Prof Dutta is professor of business and technology at international business INSEAD. He co-wrote Throwing Sheep with INSEAD research fellow Matthew Fraser.
Prof Dutta spoke at this week's CASE Europe Annual Conference for education marketing professionals at Liverpool's BT Convention Centre.
His call for businesses to embrace social media was echoed this week by Bryan Adams, of Liverpool consultancy Ph Creative. He is working on the website for this year's Liverpool Food and Drink Festival and said: "We really want to encourage more licensed and leisure venues, hotel operators and other tourism and leisure businesses to look at social media such as web videos, opinion-driven articles and Facebook.
"Everybody has an opinion on their eating out and entertainment experience so there's a perfect synergy for these tools to be used."