1 senior marketer in 3 indicates that their company has either not engaged in or has only just started the integration of social media in their company.
Key conclusions:
- 35% of British companies are still in their infancy when integrating social media in their company. 12% have fully integrated the new media
- 70% of the companies have a Facebook page, 62% a Twitter account and 50% a company LinkedIn page
- Companies from the financial and health industry are lagging behind, whereas Tech & Telco and the media sector are ahead
- The main barrier to change is the unclear financial return. This survey shows there is a positive correlation between the extent of social media integration and the financial results.
High social network adoption, low social media integration1 senior marketer in 3 indicates that their company has either not engaged in or has only just started the integration of social media in their company. 54% are in an experiment stage and 12% indicate that social media is fully integrated in the company.
In spite of the low social media integration there is a high social network sites adoption. 70% of the British companies have a Facebook page, 62% a Twitter account and 50% a LinkedIn page.
"These results show that many companies have started social media in a tactic way. They rapidly created an account on a popular network, without it being part of a total strategy." says Professor Steven Van Belleghem of the research agency InSites Consulting.
The technology, telecom and media sectors are way ahead of the othersCompanies which are active in technology, telecom and media are way ahead of the others where social media integration is concerned. A quarter of these companies indicate having integrated social media in their company processes. On the other end of the scale there are the financial and pharmaceutical sectors.
One out of 3 of these companies are only just starting their social media adventures. "The financial and pharmaceutical companies are part of difficult sectors where usage of social media is concerned. The legal and privacy-related matters are more important in their sectors than in the others.", says Van Belleghem from InSites Consulting.
Uncertainty concerning the financial added value is the main inhibitionCompanies having invested little up till today in the social media integration mainly see the uncertainty concerning the financial return.
This is the main inhibition so far, followed by a low fit with the product portfolio and a lack of support by the top management. Nonetheless this survey shows a positive correlation between the extent of social media integration and the company's financial results.
The more a company integrates social media in its commercial processes, the stronger its financial results. Furthermore there is also an increase in impact of other types of marketing communication, and there companies have more successful product launches than companies which do not integrate social media.
About InSites Consulting
InSites Consulting is an innovating global online marketing research and consultancy agency. In the past 2 years we won no less than 12 prizes from different respected organizations such as AMA, ARF, ESOMAR, Media Marketing, MRS, MOA, SPSS, AMMA and eConsultancy. InSites employs 120 people and has branches in Ghent, Rotterdam, London and Timisoara. Early in 2012 a New York office will join the list. More information on www.insites.eu and http://blog.insites.be