Marketers fall behind social media pick-up
A 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.”