It seems Australians are choosing to spend time their spare time on social media over extending a helping hand in the community. And unfortunately, it appears Queenslanders are the worst with only 27 per cent now volunteering their time to help neighbours and friends compared to 31 per cent of all Australians. This is a drop of 5 per cent in the last four years.
This sad fact is amongst many of the new findings according to the latest ABS social survey.
Australians are also less likely to be involved with team sports, clubs and community organisations because of the increasing uptake and reliance on social media as a substitute for this interaction. The data also reveals our priorities have changed and we're more likely to put ourselves first over serving others.
I was devastated to read this because this new trend means that we are becoming more insular than ever. No matter how many new apps hit the market to make connecting easier, nothing replaces the value of face-to-face contact with others.
How can we make sure that we do not fall prey to the lure of social media over displaying real and meaningful acts of corporate citizenship? These are two of the biggest trends impacting business today – social media and social responsibility, and how we respond to them has a significant bearing on our business success.
What we need to do in this hyper-transparent, hyper-connected world of ours is change the focus of marketing from creating campaigns that benefit ourselves to building relationships with community groups that improve the lives of many.
What we need to do is develop strategic partnerships that are capable of addressing the issues people care about. We need to put social media to good use and champion the efforts of our community groups and their legion of volunteers who give their time to create a better future for us all. When we empower our partners through our corporate brand power, when we sponsor their activities and reinforce our support with an old-fashioned hand shake, then we can say we're playing a meaningful role in the community.
Funnily enough, when we embrace our duties to deliver acts of corporate citizenship, it fuels our social media fire. One purpose serves another and everyone wins.
To view a list of potential sponsorship opportunities in your region, register at www.eventsponsors.com.au
