MORE Filipino executives are using social media as a tool for communication with their customers and staff, according to the Grant Thornton.
In its International Business Report, Grant Thornton, through Philippine member firm Punongbayan & Araullo, revealed that 44 percent of the executives in the Philippines surveyed use social media for their business.

Asked for what purpose they use social media, 36 percent said they use it for advertising, while 34 percent use it to communicate with their customers. Another 30 percent use it for communication with staff. “If you look at the survey results, majority of Filipino business leaders [56 percent] still aren’t harnessing the potential of social media to expand their reach,” Marivic Españo, P&A managing partner and chief executive said.

“But I believe we will see this attitude change very quickly especially as connectivity becomes more affordable and more Filipinos gain access to the Internet. Already we have a generation of children—some as young as pre-school age—that is very adept at using and navigating the world of social media. So I believe local businesses will realize soon enough that if they want to get a jump on their future market, they will have to turn to social media networks,” she added.

The IBR results come on the heels of a survey showing the Philippines emerged as one of the most tech-savvy countries in Asia.

The “Families and Technology 2011” survey conducted by Microsoft revealed that Filipino families have the highest average number of gadgets in the region at 10, which they use to communicate with friends and family.

The survey also showed that 34 percent of Philippine respondents cite social networking sites as their most preferred medium to stay in touch with loved ones. “Filipino businesses in particular have more of an incentive to use social media because of the large number of overseas Filipino workers that are all over the globe,” Españo said.

She said these online tools may be the most efficient way to cover such a diffused market since they’re borderless and a business can get a campaign going at zero to minimum cost.

TV, Internet top news sources
The IBR survey also asked business leaders about more traditional forms of media, such as newspapers.

Globally, 78.6 percent of respondents say they read a newspaper regularly, while 72 percent of Filipino business leaders do so.

Less than 40 percent of global respondents cite hardcopy newspapers as their preferred news source, followed by desk-based Internet at 25.9 percent.

For Filipino business leaders, however, TV topped with 34 percent of respondents preferring to get their news from this medium, followed by the Internet at 24 percent. Hardcopy newspapers ranked third with 22 percent of respondents. “The big picture shows that newspapers remain the preferred source of information of business executives despite the rapid proliferation of new media,” Españo said.

“But it will be interesting to see how these numbers change as smart phones become mainstream and as the current crop of business owners are replaced by a generation that never operated in a world without social media,” she added.