By adaptive - June 6th, 2012

Hi all, Hope everyone is well? Plenty of activity across the social web this week… Corporate users remain anti-social [N]ew research just out from Satmetrix, the Net Promoter has indicate...

Hi all,

Hope everyone is well?

Plenty of activity across the social web this week…

Corporate users remain anti-social

How Social Are YouNew research just out from Satmetrix, the Net Promoter has indicated that corporate users of social media are still struggling in this space. Of the respondents to the survey 39% stated they had no social media tracking at all in place. The B2B sector was worse with over half (51%) stating they did no reputation of advocacy tracking at all. The other highlights of the report included:

  • 55% of companies ignore customers who provide feedback via social media – by having no process in place to respond. This increases to 69 percent for B2B companies compared to 42 percent for B2C.
  • 67% of companies do not measure or quantify social media – increasing to 75 percent for B2B companies.
  • 60% of businesses do not have an integrated social media strategy (either do nothing, track or follow up only).
  • North America leads the way with 43% of North American companies having a follow up process compared to about 25% in other regions.

“Businesses recognize the need for a social media strategy, however many are challenged in putting an effective strategy in place,” said Richard Owen, CEO, Satmetrix. “While 77% of consumers post about products, 67% of businesses have no means of measuring what is being said, and less than one in 20 have any insight into the sentiment of what is being said. This is both a huge threat and a massive lost opportunity. Not only are companies running the risk of losing customers by not addressing their issues shared online, but they are also walking past the opportunity to capitalize on positive comments made on the social web.”

Could HSBC leave Facebook?

HSBC LogoComing just a week after GM announced that it would be pulling its annual $10m advertising budget from Facebook, HSBC’s group marketing director Chris Clark told Brand Republic in an in-depth interview that the bank would be watching closely the reactions it is receiving from its Facebook ads. Clark’s main concern is how the data that Facebook collects is subsequently used. Clark stated:

"We worry about stuff that happens which is outside of our control. There is a lot of chatter about Facebook’s privacy policy. We don’t want to be taking part in marketing through Facebook if what happens is those things feel unfair or intrusive.

"For us, we will undoubtedly need to look long and hard about how we get the best out of those platforms. We won’t do anything other than use those platforms, but we do believe we need to be clear about how our customers feel about these things and the integrity of their information."

Corporate users of every social network have increasingly become aware that they must pay close attention to how their businesses interface with each platform and the knock on effect of security lapses on their brand integrity. More corporate users will also review their use of social media as more understanding of its commercial impact on their businesses becomes clearer.

Pepsi tweet for brand success

Pepsi on TwitterPepsi has announced its most ambitious marketing campaign to date with the brand becoming Twitters largest brand partnership. The year long campaign will turn Pepsi’s Twitter page into an entertainment hub featuring video materials and downloadable music. The campaign dubbed ‘Live Now for Music.’ Pepsi will also lever the vast data silos that Twitter has to locate trending topics that link to their campaign with a weekly video digest embedded in their Twitter profile page.

Adam Bain, Twitter's president-global revenue said: "This is the biggest initiative a marketer has done with Twitter to date. It ranks as one of the smartest campaigns we've seen on the platform too. This yearlong program takes full advantage of Twitter."

Littlewoods interactive Facebook show

Littlewoods LiveIn what the brand maintains is a retail first, Littlewoods will be broadcasting a live and interactive shopping TV show hosted by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Scheduled for 9pm on June 13, the show will see Llewelyn-Bowen talk viewers through the latest trends and fashions. Live messaging and phone-ins will be encouraged with viewers also able to win prizes. The show will also include three minutes ad breaks to showcase specific Littlewoods ranges.

Littlewoods Brand Director Gary Kibble said: “This is a UK retail first. We hope that this will become a way for us to connect regularly with as wide an audience as possible enabling existing and new customers to browse and shop with us via a new and exciting platform.”

In Brief…

The leaders in social media

A new infographic from Hasai is a great cheat sheet for any business that wants to understand who is leading in the social media stakes. Facebook of course tops the charts, but there are plenty of pretenders to their crown fast developing their services. Use the infographic to keep an eye on the social platforms that could be the Facebooks of the future.

Top 100 social brand list

The food and drink firm Innocent has claimed the top spot in the latest social brand survey. Starbucks took second place with telecoms provider Giff Gaff claiming the bronze medal. The list was compiled by Headstream and while not being the most scientific survey it still gives an insight into which brands are doing well across the social media space.

Search engine drive less traffic to Facebook brand pages

You may remember that before the Facebook IPO the company reminded brand owners that their Facebook pages were now owned media. Acquiring fans now has commercial cost attached to them, so news that Google and Bing are driving less traffic to brand Facebook pages and offering these brands potential free fans is concerning.

Research by PageLever took 500 Facebook pages with at least 10,000 fans and looked at their search engine referrals. The company found that these had dropped by 51% in a year. Bing was even worse at nearly 60%. The causes are not clear, but some quarters have pointed to the launch of Google+ Whether the search giant is sending less traffic to Facebook to bolster the expansion of its own social platform isn’t proven. However, Google co-founder Sergey Brin told CBS News that a closed system like Facebook damaged the open Internet, as these platforms are now crawlable by Google’s search bots.

No click and collect!

According to a survey from the IVIS Group a quarter of retailers in the bricks-and-clicks space still don’t offer a click and collect service to their customers. Also, consumers are increasingly going mobile with apps from some of the best-known high street retailers now offering on-the-go ordering. Consumers increasingly want a joined up service from the businesses they buy from.

“We selected the top 50 retailers across five categories because they are investing the most in multi-channel as a whole,” said Paul Bolton, Director of Product and Corporate Strategy at IVIS Group. “We found that while some retailers are leading the way with flawless, joined up customer shopping experiences, these are rare. In-store and online crossover is a growing trend, but the number of retailers offering this service is low - even when taking into account that certain product types may not suit the click and collect model. Retailers need to start thinking like shoppers. Running a unified operation means the customer gets the best experience.”

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.

To find out more about how large companies are leveraging social for better marketing and business performance - and how your company can too - check out our flagship conference, The Corporate Social Media Summit. Featuring over 30 senior marketing and social media executives from companies like Dell, Citi, Mercedes, KLM, McDonald’s and many more, this is the learning and networking opportunity of 2012 for those working in social media for big brands. Find out more here:www.usefulsocialmedia.com/newyork

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