Social media yet to be embraced

November 19, 2011 | 10:16

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Just 28 per cent of businesses surveyed in Vietnam use social media.

According to Grant Thornton’s International Business Report released on November 18, 20 per cent of Vietnamese businesses use social media for advertising, 10 per cent for recruitment, 8 per cent for communication with suppliers, 16 per cent for communication with customers and only 4 per cent for communication with their staff.

These figures are quite low compared with 31 per cent of Vietnam’s population using internet.
“Whilst these people access news information, search, instant messenger, and social networks, they are mainly of the younger generation and social media is mainly used for personal sharing but not business,” said Vinh Ha Thi Nguyen, partner at Grant Thornton Vietnam.

The research revealed that 43 per cent of businesses globally use social media in some capacity.
The results are a wake-up call to business leaders reluctant to embrace digital opportunities, who could lose out in an e-commerce market expected to be worth $1.4 trillion by 2015.

Mark Henshaw, head of Grant Thornton UK media and entertainment, said: “The results are fascinating to note. They show businesses in emerging markets embracing social media much faster than their peers in mature markets.”

The report also indicate that globally, advertising is the most common reason companies use social media (53 per cent), followed by communicating with customers (51 per cent) and recruitment (43 per cent).