McCann Erickson Bristol Launches Social Media Index for UK Businesses

A study into the impact of social media and the way products and services are marketed to us shows that over half of the UK’s top marketing experts are not up to speed with social media and how it works as a marketing and communications tool. Two thirds (65.6%) of marketers in the survey admit they do not have adequate knowledge on how to use social media correctly in marketing.

The McCann Erickson UK Social Media survey conducted by the global agency’s Bristol office shows that whilst 86% of those that took part in the survey acknowledge social media is now here to stay and is not just a fad. Almost half (46%) of the senior marketing professionals that responded admit their companies’ IT department proactively blocks access to popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter – rendering them incapable of effectively monitoring what is being said about their brands. Those that do have access cited Facebook and Twitter as the top two most used social networking sites in the McCann Erickson Social Media index (table 1.0).

Table 1.0 Social media presence – UK Marketing professionals

Source: McCann Erickson UK Social Media in Marketing Survey 2009

The lack of understanding of social media as a marketing tool may explain senior marketers reluctance to grasp its potential. 67.5% of marketers in the survey thought that social media is used more by the youth market (under 25s) however, according to Nielsen, people using Twitter tend to trend older with 35 – 49 year olds making up 42% of traffic to Twitter.com with the majority (62%) accessing it only at work.

Opinion was split on how social media impacts on traditional forms of communication (e.g. telephone and face to face) with 48.2% agreeing that this new form of ‘keeping in touch’ has a negative impact on traditional communication methods versus 51.8% disagreeing.

Three quarters of those questioned (75.9%) did acknowledge that social media has a place in business, commercial communication and marketing activity. Those that are proactive in social media utilisation cite profile raising and PR purposes and their main reasons for use (see Table 2.0).

Table 2.0 Primary functions for social media marketing by UK business

Source: McCann Erickson UK Social Media in Marketing Survey 2009

Table 3.0 Twitter usage by marketing professionals – number of tweets posted by those with a Twitter presence

Source: McCann Erickson UK Social Media in Marketing Survey 2009

Commenting on the study, Joanna Randall head of PR at McCann Erickson Bristol, said: “There is a real thirst for information and knowledge on the subject of social media which is constantly evolving – making it hard to keep up with the latest trends. We have established this report as part of an ongoing study into usage and attitude, run through our specialist SoMe (Social Media) unit.

“This study highlights that some of the UK’s major businesses are ignoring social media channels – but they do so at their peril. Word of mouth is now more powerful than ever; opinions can be shared with a global audience at the click of a button; we all have the ability to influence, both positively and negatively, and therefore as marketing professionals we should be considering how best to harness the power of social media.”

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