Marketers fall behind social media pick-up
Marketers fall behind social media pick-upA study into the impact of social media and the way products and services are marketed to us shows that over half of the UK’s top marketing experts are not up to speed with social media.
In fact, two thirds (65.6%) of marketers in the survey admit they do not have adequate knowledge on how to use social media correctly in marketing.
The McCann Erickson UK Social Media survey, conducted by the global agency’s Bristol office, shows that while 86% of marketers that took part in the survey acknowledge social media is now here to stay, they are still failing to understand how to capitalise on the medium.
The lack of understanding of social media as a marketing tool may explain senior marketers reluctance to grasp its potential. Opinion was split on how social media impacts on traditional forms of communication with 48.2% agreeing that it has a negative impact on traditional communication methods versus 51.8% disagreeing.
Social media presence – UK marketing professionals
1. Facebook 72.8% of marketers with a presence
2. Twitter 42.4%
3. LinkedIn 40.2%
4. YouTube 28.3%
5. Flickr 14.1%
6. Google Groups 12.0%
7. My Space 10.9%
8. Bebo 3.3%
9. Plaxo 1.1%
One surprising statistic shows that almost half (46%) of the senior marketing professionals that responded admit their companies’ IT department proactively block access to popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter – rendering them incapable of monitoring what is being said about their brands.
Primary functions for social media marketing by UK business
1. Profile raising/PR 51.2%
2. Networking 48.8%
3. Advertising 30.5%
4. Surveys/studies 24.4%
5. Recruitment 19.5%
6. Trends analysis 11.0%
7. Issues management 4.9%
Three quarters of those questioned (75.9%) did acknowledge that social media has a place in business, commercial communication and marketing activity.
Those that are proactive in social media utilisation cite profile raising and PR purposes and their main reasons for use.
Number of tweets posted by marketing professionals with a Twitter presence
Once a week or less 43.2%
One per day 5.4%
2 – 5 per day 13.5%
6 – 10 per day 8.1%
10 – 20 per day 0.0%
I have a Twitter account but it is not active 29.7%
Commenting on the study, Joanna Randall at McCann Erickson Bristol, said: “This study highlights that some of the UK’s major businesses are ignoring social media channels – but they do so at their peril. Word of mouth is now more powerful than ever; we all have the ability to influence, both positively and negatively, and therefore as marketing professionals we should be considering how best to harness the power of social media.”
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Comments
Check out the ad contrarian (google it). Suspect his views on social media as a marketing tool are closer to the truth. Also suspect that's why a lot of marketers are at best ambivalent. I mean c'mon, do you really think a 35 year old woman is going to twitter or facebook about what soap powder she uses? Now sex toys...that's a different matter. It's about the right media for the right message to the right people. Never changed, never will do.
I find it intriguing that social media is deemed the new cash cow for marketers. It irritates me how people think that just shoving something in social media streams will attract folk to their brand like moths to a flame. If anything, it's more inclined to hack people off unless it's done superbly.
stick it up yer twitter!
Agree with Will on the right toy for the job (or did I read more into his comment there?) It's also worth pointing out that the return value of social media has yet to be established. As a brand building exercise the merits of Facebook and Twitter can certainly be appreciated, but as a way of increasing sell through, the benefits are less clear. Sure, it's an easy way of preaching to the converted but as for expanding market share - well, where's the data?
Advertising through these forms of media can often have the effect of interrupting conversations to bring a word from the sponsor. It's an open topic that the intrusion of admen into this arena is unwelcome.
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