In a recent study by Digital Brand Expressions, 52% of social marketers are operating “without a game plan,” similar to the 50% found in April 2010 by R2integrated this was discussed recently in an emarketer article.
The following image shows the activities that organisations are currently participating in indicating that many organisations are clearly at the beginning of their social media journey building the foundations for more sophisticated activities.
The study also showed that the creation/maintenance of social media communications plans are being created predominantly by marketing and corporate communications which is to be expected.
It would however be interesting to know how many other departments had a seat at the table when the social media plans were developed. For example, developing a thorough social media policy alone would need input from HR, IT, marketing and others gaining that buy-in from the majority of departmental areas is critical if you are (a) going to get the strategy off the ground and (b) gain the ROI that you need.
Great information Jenni,
I have to agree that most businesses in Australia are at the beginning of their social media journey and could really do with some guidance before they try ineffective strategies and get disillusioned with the outcome. Also appreciate th graphs which help me absorb the figures more easily.
The lastes BRW has an article with one pro twitter writer countering another article written in a recent previous edition by someone who obviously hadn’t really understood how to use twitter or even realise that its use was on the increase (fail whales) and was basing the assumption on less direct visitors to twitter.com. Well that’s because we can use twitter via apps that never visit twitter directly.
Keep fighting the good fight Jenni to open the eyes and ears of Australain business to a yet vastly untapped marketing and loyalty building tool.
kind regards
Tony
Social media needs a strategy? If so then it is dead before you begin. Folding social media in with IT, HR, Marketing into a common strategy is a recipe for a gross waste of time and resources. No use value will or could be created by such an approach.
Social media exists as a conversation. It links people who are will to share. It facilitates group2group collaboration. It brings its own networking culture to the fore. At present, those who embrace social media also embrace new ways of doing business (Google – free model with separate revenue streams), government (Obama Campaign erected a virtual town hall meeting place for everyone to debate the issues), life (facebook, twitter, linkedIn, etc provide us all with a forum to exchange ideas, experiences, etc). Social media is a tool that many are using to change their world – the most successful at it do not have a strategy as much as a belief in new (digital) ways of organising activities and conversations.
Cheers, Richard.
Hi Richard and thanks for dropping by.
I agree that social media is more than a strategy ie a belief and a new way of organising activities etc but I believe that strategies will help underpin those activities.
Social media indeed exists as a conversation but if that conversation is consumer feedback and your CRM system is not linked correctly ultimately conversation without action (from the organisation) is rendered useless. I believe social media strategy integration with key depts within organisations is criticalto ensure organisations deliver the best they can to the consumer.
Cheers