Burson-Marsteller has just published their Corporate Social Media Study 2011 which has some great stats about the rapid growth of corporate involvement of social media – doubling over last year (see Campaign Asia article). However, they also point out that there are a lot of opportunities remaining to truly engage and hear from your stakeholders. Thus far it looks like corporates are still viewing SNS as another way to push info to the media. Come on! Start a conversation!
Social media is now a key channel for corporate marketing and communications across Asia
- 81% of firms covered – double the number across Asia in 20101 and almost on a par with 84% of Fortune 100 companies
- South Korean and Chinese companies are most active
- Taiwan and Singapore continue to use social media sparingly
Corporate social media strategies remain short-term and piecemeal
- Over half of these branded accounts are ‘inactive’. Majority of social media channels are used primarily for product marketing campaigns.
- Few have set up channels specifically for corporate marketing or communications purposes, with most opting to piggy-back on consumer channels
- Most firms are failing to promote their social profiles through their websites
Continued corporate focus on pushing information, rather than stakeholder engagement
- Most firms are making little effort to engage audiences in corporate-related discussions
- Popular use is to reinforce and extend ongoing media and influencer outreach
- Other than in South Korea and China, very few Asian firms use overtly two-way communications channels
Corporate digital storytelling remains in its infancy
- Great majority of company video sharing channels are product marketing vehicles. Corporate use of video in Asia is mostly limited to illustrating good social deeds and some leadership communications.
- Missing a significant opportunity to bring alive their activities in ways that audiences can relate to and might want to share with others.
The companies surveyed in this study comprise the top 10 companies per market as ranked in the Wall Street Journal Asia 200 Index for 2010.
