|
Posted: 10 Dec 2009
Some of the biggest brands in Australia have been revealed as poor users of social media such as Facebook, and Twitter -- often creating a presence there, only to then leave them dormant.
Research by public relations agency Burson Marsteller on Australia's top 20 brands indicates that many are bungling their approach to the emergent media channel of social networking.
Burson Marsteller director Daniel Young said a clear pattern had emerged among brands that had not understood the importance of being fully prepared before launching a social media strategy.
Brands such as Telstra and Billabong had proven adept at weaving social media into their marketing and communications strategy, he said, but many had failed to grasp the nettle.
Some put that down to confusion on how to monetise social networks as a marketing channel.
Using Interbrand's measure of Australia's top brands, the research shows 40 per cent of the top 20 brands had a Twitter account, but 44 per cent of those were dormant or rarely used.
"If you are going to get involved you need to do some deep thinking about what are your objectives," Mr Young said.
"The best-practice examples are leveraging social media in an integrated fashion to deepen relationships, personalise their brands and provide customer service."
The report says few companies have a strategic approach to social networking.
"Australia's top companies are still experimenting with social media for stakeholder communication, mostly limiting activity to a single social media channel. Few companies are yet using top social media platforms in a strategic, or integrated, manner across multiple channels."
The research covers sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as corporate blogs, to see how companies are using their online presence. "Telstra is a good example, using multiple channels, using Twitter for customer service, blogs and Facebook," Mr Young said.
"Another example would be Billabong. They are facilitating conversations on issues related to products, such as surfing, but not the products themselves."
The research reveals that many brands are reserving a space on sites such as Twitter, but then waiting until they have defined a social media strategy. Australia Post fell into that category.
Most Twitter accounts had few followers, with the median being 193, but some, such as Billabong, had more than 8000 followers.
The findings mirror research in the US by Weber Shandwick, which shows 15 per cent of Fortune 100 companies had established a presence on Twitter but the accounts had become inactive.
The Weber Shandwick research also concludes companies are failing to understand social media strategies
|
