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December 5, 2007
Business Leaders and Social Media
SOCIAL MEDIA MORE IMPORTANT THAN MASS MEDIA,
ONE IN TWO BUSINESS LEADERS SAY
Veritas Communications launches com.motion to help brands and organizations in social media marketing space
"Nov. 27, 2007 - TORONTO - Social media tools such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs have become an essential component of the communications mix, according to an overwhelming majority (85 per cent) of Canadian business and marketing leaders. Nearly half (46 per cent) say social media tools are becoming even more important than television, radio, newspapers and magazines. The results are contained in a survey of 444 business and marketing leaders conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights for com.motion, a new offering from Veritas Communications.
"It is astounding that one in two executives say social media is becoming even more important than television," says Keith McArthur, Principal of com.motion and Senior Director of Media Innovation at Veritas. "TV advertising is still where marketers spend most of their money, while social media represents a tiny sliver of the budget. It's clear that's going to change."
The survey also shows that executives are sharply divided over the use of social media in the workplace. Two-thirds (66 per cent) say employees shouldn't use social networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook at work, while 34 per cent say it is important for employees to participate in and understand the medium.
Other key findings of the com.motion/Pollara survey include:
-One quarter (26 per cent) of business and marketing leaders say they are less familiar with social media marketing than their customers. Among those who describe themselves as "executive management," one-third say they're less familiar than their customers.
-More than two in five (43 per cent) business and marketing leaders say they have a profile on Facebook or MySpace.
-The majority of respondents (54 per cent) say senior management supports greater investment in social media, compared with 28 per cent who say they are opposed.
"Canadian marketers appear to understand that social media represents a ground-shifting communications opportunity, but many are unsure how to proceed," said Robert Hutton, Executive Vice-President & General Manager at Pollara Strategic Insights. "This is an evolving medium with an evolving set of rules, but marketers who watch from the sidelines will be left behind."
For more survey results visit www.com.motionpoll.ca"
Hmmm. There's another side to these stories. Not everyone is worrying about producutivity alone. Then again, advertisers would do this sort of research (grin). It would be interesting to see the open ended comments on the why it's good. I can imagine lots of reasons why businesses wouldn't want to disconnect from their markets and customer spaces. Neither do libraries.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at December 5, 2007 8:40 AM