Cover Story

• What do the experts think? • Properly managing social media • Measuring success

Having gone through a few examples of how social media has benefitted our local entrepreneurs and businesses, it is safe to assume that social media does hold significant potential to boost growth.

Agreeing with this is Neil Fraser, executive director of Corepro PR Sdn Bhd – a PR firm specialising in crisis, risk and reputation management.

In an interview with BizHive Weekly, Fraser shared that social media campaigns tend to deliver sizeable returns on investment for their client in terms of customer traffic and sales increase.

“There’s absolutely no doubt about it, that a strong and effective social media campaign, properly managed and monitored, can and has delivered real and tangible business results for companies inside and outside Malaysia,” he said, emphasising that adopting social media is more than just short-term growth for a business.

He explained that social media with its immediacy, permanence and openness, has allowed businesses to engage with their stakeholders quickly, dynamically and effectively.

“As such, businesses, publicsector organisations, NGOs and charities have all come to embrace social media as a mainstay of their communications, and, with the rise of social media across all markets and regions, the direction of travel is that it’s here to stay as an incomparable asset for all organisations in this digital world.”

There’s absolutely no doubt about it, that a strong and effective tive social media campaign, properly managed and monitored, can and has delivered real and tangible business results for companies nies inside and outside Malaysia. Neil Fraser, executive director of Corepro PR Sdn Bhd

However, despite the importance of social media in our current landscape, Fraser cautions that social media can also be a source for reputation distrust and a threat to consumer confidence if it is mismanaged.