Want to know how communicators are using social media? You could pose a question on Twitter or you could do a deep dive. MarketingProfs did the latter, surveying 4,763 marketers and others managing communications for their organizations. That included 3,285 who specifically said they are responsible for social media.
I don’t have a copy of The State of Social Media Marketing, but I did get a peak at some of the findings. There is some great data here:
1. 48.2 percent said their organizations have a social media presence. They are typically companies that have “very little to hide.” Companies in industries with strict regulations and major repercussions for leaking information (think drug makers, bankers, insurers) are less visible.
2. 60.8 percent who do social media said that it is not part of their job description.
3. Social media isn’t cheap: Most of those doing social media are mid- or senior-level people.
4. 48.8 percent said their company has no official social media policy; 12 percent said they have a restrictive one.
5. There is a correlation between culture and the success of a company’s marketing efforts. Employees who blog (independently) can spark new ideas and increase prestige.
6. All the measurement tools are helpful, but incomplete. For example, 52.8 percent of those surveyed said that paid analytics tools are “helpful but incomplete” (versus 66.1 percent of those using Google and other free tools). And approximately one-third of respondents (33.6 percent) said that the paid tools “enable perfect tracking” (versus 28.1 percent for those using free tools).
There is also a lot of data about the disconnects between the tactics people use a lot (i.e., what’s popular) and the tactics that are most effective. For example, the most used tactics on Twitter are driving traffic (72.1 percent) and driving sales (54.2 percent)—how’s that worked out for you lately? In contract, the most effective Twitter tactics cited involved two-way communications strategies and monitoring for PR problems in real time.
Photo by webtreats (Flickr).
