Social Media for Business

May 27, 2010 – Toronto, ON | We hear a lot about social media every day in blog posts, Twitter, traditional media and the like. It’s “the” method of communication for many people, surpassing speaking on the phone, even if it’s mobile. It has become an accepted, effective and growing method of marketing and interacting with customers. So what about within your business?

Historically, technology was developed in the business world, government or academia first, and then later adapted for consumer opportunities. Examples include the desktop computer, email and the Internet itself. Today, what we’re often seeing is the opposite, with consumer products later finding business application, such as desktop search, podcasts, broadband video and mobile applications.

It’s also normal to see consumer software used by employees in the workplace before being formally adopted by IT departments. Want your people to be more productive and lower IT costs at the same time? Find out what your employees like to use and involve them in determining what tools the business can benefit from. Like it or not, changes are occurring in how people think, learn, process information, communicate and collaborate.

Social media is now becoming more widely accepted within businesses to enable people to communicate, collaborate and share knowledge in a more productive manner. LinkedIn and Twitter are two public sites that can be used effectively for specific business purposes such as recruitment or customer support. While management often debates the pros and cons of allowing employees access to popular, public social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace, they are starting to see the value of these types of tools and functionality within the organization. You can now have functionality similar to the public social networks inside your organization – to share information in a safe and controlled environment, without the worry of exposing sensitive corporate information to others outside the company.

A few factors contribute to the value social media can play for business. Humans are social and visual creatures by nature. There is a strong move online toward images and video, for management communications, product information, presentations, blog posts and training (see Video Opportunities article for more examples). We are continuing to see communication go towards shorter, searchable and contextual “sound bites”.

Social media can aid in one other business challenge. The loss of corporate knowledge is a growing issue, with an aging population and significant numbers close to retirement, regular employee turnover and the high cost of training new people. When people leave your business, they walk out the door with some of your most valuable assets: applied knowledge and experience. Making it easier for people to share knowledge in a safe and controlled manner and wrapping social activities such as commenting, rating and tagging around online information and dialogues, helps draw out this experience and convert it from individual to organizational value. Capturing just a small percentage of this day-to-day experience and making it searchable within your organization unlocks a knowledge base that was previously inaccessible.

Your younger employees expect to have tools in the workplace that they already use daily. Providing similar, easy-to-use tools within the organization helps break down the traditional cultural resistance to knowledge sharing that many businesses struggle with.

“Social business” opportunities to share what’s important and interesting include:

1. management communications;
2. a central place to aggregate, manage, access and repurpose all presentations;
3. innovation tools;
4. competitor information;
5. profiles with documents authored, recent work experience, speaking engagements, areas of interest and blogs; and
6. online, just-in-time and distance training.

Through the use of video and interactive applications, you help attract, engage, interact and retain your people. You also reduce the time of onboarding, making employees more valuable, more quickly.

Additional benefits of making your business social are:

1. unleashing creativity and innovation;
2. reducing time to market;
3. increasing productivity through quicker access to knowledge;
4. increasing revenue by delivering broader value to more customers;
5. significantly reducing email messages; and
6. improving overall employee engagement.

By building true organizational knowledge, these tools help strengthen brand and corporate loyalty within an organization, thereby increasing external brand value.

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Filemobile Inc. places 21st on PROFIT Magazine’s 10th annual HOT 50 ranking

Toronto, Ontario—September 8, 2009—Filemobile Inc., a leading developer of proven and flexible interactive online software platforms, was named one of Canada’s emerging growth companies by PROFIT Magazine today.

Earning a position on the influential HOT 50 ranking for the second consecutive year, Filemobile was ranked 21st by PROFIT magazine editors with a two-year growth rate of 508 per cent. “We are extremely proud to be placed in such esteemed company alongside some of this country’s most dynamic innovators,” Filemobile CEO Chris Becker said. “Despite the difficult economic climate of the past year, our dedicated team has continued to find exciting ways to breathe new life into our suite of social media products and services—I’m looking forward to another great year of fast growth.”

Published in the October issue of PROFIT magazine and online at PROFITguide.com, the PROFIT HOT 50 ranks young firms by two-year revenue growth. “The PROFIT HOT 50 have achieved phenomenal growth rates despite a battered economy,” PROFIT editor Ian Portsmouth said. “Their success is a testament to their innovative approaches to satisfying the demands of the marketplace and managing their own companies.”

About Filemobile:

Filemobile Inc. is Canada’s leading producer of interactive social media software. Our user-generated content, social networking, video and online community management products enable major brands, media companies and enterprise to power profitable online experiences. Our proprietary Media Factory platform has been deployed by the likes of MolsonCoors, CTV, SunLife Financial, CBC, Kraft, Pepsi and Microsoft to engage with clientele, build brand awareness and expand their client reach exponentially. Visit Filemobile online.

About PROFIT Magazine:

PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success, is Canada’s preeminent publication dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. Published six times a year by Rogers Publishing Ltd., PROFIT is distributed almost exclusively to the chief executives of companies with 5 – 250 employees and annual revenue of $1 million to $25 million, reaching more than 300,000 readers across Canada. Visit PROFIT Magazine online.

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Filemobile ranked #8 on the Profit HOT 50 Emerging Growth Companies

Leads the way for new Software as a Service (SaaS) companies in Canada

Toronto, Canada, September 22, 2008 - Filemobile, a leading social media and networking platform provider, has emerged as one of Canada’s fastest growing companies according to the 9th annual PROFIT HOT 50 ranking.

“We are honored and delighted to be named to the PROFIT HOT 50 list as the eighth emerging growth company in Canada,” said Chris Becker CEO, Filemobile. “As a self-funded company, we recognize the need to manage our growth and yet expand our business quickly to enable customers to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in the social media space.”

Filemobile provides services and tools for media companies, brands, and digital agencies. It enables clients to collect, manage and monetize content, making it simple to leverage social media and engage customers. Filemobile software powers some of the most popular online campaigns in Canada, including CBC's Canada Hockey Anthem Challenge, a cross-country search calling on all Canadians to be part of hockey history by composing the next theme song for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

The result has been the most successful user generated contest in Canadian history. 14,685 songs were submitted for this recently launched project, powered by Filemobile's Media Factory. There have been over 12 million page views, over 600,000 unique visitors, and 1.2 million site visits. Media Factory powers and tracks several other campaigns across the web for clients including:

• CTV – Live the Drama
• Muchmusic - Showmeyours.tv Community
• Molson - Molson Dry Association of Party Pros

“The PROFIT HOT 50 companies illustrate the ingenuity and vitality of Canada’s entrepreneurial sector,” said editor Ian Portsmouth. “Anyone who wants to start or grow a business can draw much inspiration and many lessons from the HOT 50.”

The PROFIT HOT 50 is the definitive ranking of Canada’s Emerging Growth Companies. Published in the October issue of PROFIT magazine and online at www.PROFITmagazine.ca.

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