Malaysian bosses don't bother with social media

More than half of Malaysian CEOs and the rest of the C-suite, many of whom have grown up in a generation without Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, are not engaged in social media strategy or activities.

A new PwC study, Social media in business, finds Malaysian organisations are 'converts' of social media - they have an established presence in pockets, but no proper strategy around it. The report asks: "Are you on social media simply because it seems like the thing to do?"

In comparison, 70% of the end users admit they refer to a brand's social media presence before making a decision. Furthermore, 72% of respondents, including C-suite users, agree that top management participation on social media helps communicate the organisation's values.

The research also found while 69% of Malaysian businesses are "fairly active" on social media, just 42% track its impact on performance.

"We noticed a significant gap between what’s expected of CEOs and what they’re actually doing when it comes to social platforms – which isn’t very much yet," said Sridharan Nair, managing partner of PwC Malaysia

"Of course smart doesn’t happen overnight. It’s like using a new smartphone. There may be some teething problems initially. But it’ll grow on you. And very soon, you’ll find yourself asking ‘How did I ever survive without it?’."

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Listing the examples of National Australia Bank and Frito-Lay, among others, the findings point to a need to measure the impact of social media in order to demonstrate ROI.

70% of  respondents are currently developing or have already rolled out Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Presently, most companies (20%) are using social media to disseminate information about their products and services to potential customers, or as a sales and marketing tool (17%).

The most popular social platforms in Malaysia were found to be Facebook (39%), YouTube (28%), and Instagram (15%).

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