Bigmouthmedia and Econsultancy recently released ‘The Social Media and Online PR Report’. It revealed that 86% of the more than 1,100 surveyed UK companies and agencies are planning to invest more money in social media next year.
But the report also found that it’s not easy to get social. It’s apparently not a question of know-how but of resources.
54% of the respondents said that their biggest barrier to better social media engagement was indeed a lack of resources, with 90% (!) of businesses stating that social media is taking up more time internally than a year ago.
I guess that companies could give it into the hands of their agencies but since agencies also participated at the survey they state that social media takes up more time too. And since time is money…
I quote Phil Gripton, Managing Director of bigmouthmedia UK, from the official press release: “These statistics…show that…many are struggling to effectively manage their engagement and are consequently failing to make the most of a potentially enormous opportunity”
Measuring and defining the value of social media marketing
Another issue might be measurement and return. The research found that, although many companies are doing all kinds of social media stuff, “few reap any measurable benefits”.
I quote again: “Only a quarter of companies said that they have gained real, tangible value from social media whereas 60% said they had gained some benefit but nothing concrete. However, 52% of respondents who are heavily involved said they have gained real value, compared to only 13% of companies who experimented but not done much”.
Michelle Goodall from Econsultancy has some advice: “Before they think about their strategy and the best tactics, companies need to go back to basics and think in detail about how online PR and social media can help them deliver against their business objectives”.
She continues: “The reality is that most businesses understand how to listen, what to measure and where to engage but are struggling to define the value of engagement and reputation in social spaces.”
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