Social Media and Corporate Adoption MBA Survey - The Results

8/14/2019 Social Media and Corporate Adoption MBA Survey - The Results

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4.2 The identity of the survey respondents

In analysing the data, it is a good idea to start with the identity of the respondents

themselves. As suggested in chapter 3, respondents were given a choice by the

questionnaires very first question: to identify themselves in one of the following ways:

You are a social media consultant and/or involved in some capacity as a social mediaadvisor to your (or any other) organisation

You work for an organisation that to a greater or lesser extent uses social media as amarketing tool

If they ticked the first box, respondents were taken to a further 14 questions; if they ticked

the second, a further 20. This sorting device worked well as a reasonably even split

developed: 37 completed the first set of questions, 51 the second, a 42/58% balance. The

questionnaire asked for respondents to identify themselves by name and by company,

although it was stated that this information was preferred but not essential. Despite this,

90% gave their names and 88% provided their companys name.

The questionnaire aimed at organisations included more questions on the nature of those

organisations as this information was clearly instructive in terms of the research objectives.

4.2.1 The respondent organisations

The majority of the respondents were private companies based in the UK, although it should

be noted that there was an extremely healthy proportion of US respondents. This may at

first seem odd, given that this was a survey generated by a British student at a British


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university, but it should really be no surprise given the boundary-ignoring capability of social

media (or indeed that the two of the others were from New Zealand and Slovenia).

The pie chart showing the public/private split is best considered when placed next to the

data from the similar question in the consultants questionnaire. We can therefore

appreciate both the sectors worked in by organisations using social media marketing, and

the sectors worked in by the clients of social media consultants. Essentially, the two are the

same thing, although it could be argued that the clients of social media consultants have

potentially invested more seriously in social media in that they are actually paying an

outside agency to advise them on it. Interestingly though, the two pie charts are fairly

similar, and suggest that the majority of organisations using social media are in the private

sector.

UK57%

USA

35%

Other

8%

Figure 4.3:

Location of

organisations

using social

media

Respondents: Organisations


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Digging a bit deeper into the nature of the respondent organisations, the data demonstrates

that a majority provide services (46%) in a business-to-business context (46%), although

businesses targeting consumers do account for 35%. A range of sizes of companies are also

represented, everything from very small businesses to multinationals. The final chart shows

that out of 10 employment sectors represented, over a third were in the creative field. This

Public

16%

Private

84%


Figure 4.4:

Sector of

organisations

using social

media

Public

12%

Private

61%

Both public

and private

27%

Respondents: Consultants

Figure 4.5:

Type of

organisations

using social

media

consultants


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could to an extent be attributed to the types of person the author is following on Twitter,

and it may well be that this chart is more of interest as a footnote and that little significance

can justifiably be placed next to it.

The latter chart in this section (Figure 4.10) demonstrates the youth of this field, with 78%

of respondent organisations admitting to only having introduced social media within the last

two years.

Products

11%

Services

46%

Both

30%

Neither

13%


Figure 4.6:

What the

organisations

sell

Business-to-

business

46%Business-to-

consumer

35%

Other

19%


Figure 4.7:

Who the

organisations

are targeting


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01-10

24%

11-100

30%

101-500

16%

501-1,000

8%

1,001-10,00019%

Over 10,000

3%


Figure 4.8:

Size of

organisations

by number of

employees

11% 2%

3%

3%

21%

3%11%

5%3%

38%

Charity, voluntary or not-for-profit

Construction and property

Insurance

IT and telecoms

Leisure and tourism

Information

Technology/software

Public sector

Recruitment

Media, marketing, PR, digital and

creative


Figure 4.9:

Organisation

sector


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4.3 The usage of social media marketing

The first key set of data relates to the usage of social media technologies in a business

context. In this question, and indeed any question where the percentages do not add up to

100%, respondents were allowed to tick as many boxes as necessary. This was clearly

because organisations involved in social media tend to use a combination of technologies

and it would have been disingenuous to ask for just one or perhaps a preferred technology.

4.3.1 The technologies and sites being used by organisations

Figure 4.11 shows that the vast majority (94.6%) of organisations involved in social media

marketing are using social networks, the clear leader over blogging (67.6%) and video

(62.2%). This data is supported by Figure 4.12, which pinpoints social networking site

Facebook as the most popular social media site used by organisations, ahead of YouTube,

Twitter and LinkedIn, all some distance back with around 50%. This chart also amply

demonstrates the breadth of sites being used: of the 20 options given, only the Google-

Under a year

40%

1-2 years

38%

2-4 years

19%

5-9 years

3%


Figure 4.10:

Length of

time using

social media


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operated social networking site Orkut received no votes. Among the sites provided by those

respondents who ticked Other were Typepad, Zoom, Last.fm, Wikipedia, Pipl and Xing.

8.10%

21.60%

37.80%

40.50%

40.50%

48.60%

54.10%

62.20%

67.60%94.60%

Other

Wikis

Podcasts

Microblogging

Social bookmarking sites

RSS

Photos

Video

Blogging

Social networks


Figure 4.11: Social

media technologies

used by organisations


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4.3.2 The effectiveness of social media marketing sites

Both organisations and consultants were asked to quantify what they considered to be the

most effective social media sites from a return on investment perspective. This is of course a

highly subjective notion and is difficult to measure in any way scientifically. However

investment, whether determined in a financial or other resource sense, is a significant

determinant of social media usage and uptake and it was judged that this was a useful

question to ask.

As both sectors of the questionnaire contained this question, it is appropriate to merge the

charts and draw comparison between the two. Twitter was determined the most effective

0.00%

2.70%

2.70%

2.70%

5.40%

8.10%

16.20%

16.20%

18.90%

21.60%

21.60%

21.60%

27.00%

29.70%

29.70%

37.80%

54.10%

56.80%

56.80%

86.50%

Orkut

Squidoo

HubPages

Blogger

Yammer

Bebo

Slideshare

Ning

Other

Digg

Reddit

MySpace

StumbleUpon

Delicious

Wordpress

Flickr

LinkedIn

Twitter

YouTube

Facebook


Figure 4.12: Social

media sites used by

organisations as a

marketing tool


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by both organisations and consultants, with 40.5% and 54.9% respectively. Facebook and

LinkedIn also received a consistent show of approval from both sectors.

In terms of differences between the two, consultants found YouTube much more effective

than organisations (41.2% compared to 21.6%), and blogging platform Wordpress was

considered the third most effective by consultants with 35.3%, but only received 10.8% of

the organisations vote. A far greater spread of boxes were ticked in this category by the

consultants, 17 against 10 ticked by the organisations, which could be assigned to the

reasonable conclusion that consultants would be aware of more sites and generally more

knowledgeable about their usage. It is also interesting to note that over a third of consultant

respondents, 37.8%, decided that the answer depended on the industry.

Bebo

Blogger

Delicious

Depends

Digg

Facebook

Flickr

HubPages

LinkedIn

MySpace

Ning

Orkut

Other

Reddit

Slideshare

Squidoo

StumbleUpon

Twitter

Wordpress

Yammer

YouTube

Organisations

Consultants

Respondents: All

Figure 4.13: Most

effective social media

sites in terms of ROI


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4.3.3 The least effective social media marketing site

Figure 4.14 seeks to identify the least effective social media marketing sites, as determined

by the consultants. This question was left out of the organisations questionnaire as they

were not deemed in the best position to be able to answer it in any meaningful fashion.

Similarly to Figure 4.13, a sizeable proportion of the consultants (37.3%) determined that

the effectiveness of a site depended on the industry. In terms of specific sites, MySpace was

identified as the least effective, with 27.5%, followed by Facebook (17.6%), Orkut (15.7%)

and Bebo (13.7%).

17.60%

5.90%

7.80%

7.80%

2.00%

5.90%

9.80%

5.90%

0.00%

5.90%

0.00%

9.80%

5.90%

3.90%

5.90%

13.70%

15.70%

27.50%

37.30%11.80%

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Flickr

Slideshare

Digg

Reddit

StumbleUpon

YouTube

Yammer

WordpressNing

Squidoo

HubPages

Blogger

Bebo

Orkut

MySpace

Depends on the particular business or industry

Other


Figure 4.14: Worst

performing social media

sites in terms of ROI


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4.3.4 The sites that will grow and decrease in popularity over the

next 12 months

The consultants were asked for their verdicts on which sites would demonstrate the fastest

proportional growth, and the fastest proportional decrease, in business usage over the next

12 months. This could also be interpreted as an indication of effectiveness. Again the results

were merged (Figure 4.15). Twitter was again the clear leader, with 84.3%, followed by

YouTube (64.7%), Facebook (52.9%) and LinkedIn (51%). Facebook had the most mixed

response from the consultants, with 25.5% also predicting it would decrease in business

usage over the next 12 months, an interesting point considering Figure 4.12, which placed

Facebook well ahead in terms of actual usage. It was MySpace however that received the

biggest thumbs-down from the consultants, with 52.9% believing it would decrease in

business usage over the next year, against only 3.9% who thought it would grow. Other

notable trends include the resounding vote of confidence for Wordpress, with 45.1%

believing it would grow and no respondents at all suggesting it will decrease.


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4.3.5 The sites organisations intend to try for the first time over

the next 12 months

A further indication regarding the future direction of social media marketing can be seen

from Figure 4.16. In this instance, it should be noted that the answer Other drew such a

high proportion of responses chiefly because no option for none of the above or similar

was provided; this was probably an oversight. Of the 16 people who ticked Other, 11 said

that either they had not yet decided, or that they were not intending to try any of the sites

listed.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Flickr

Slideshare

Digg

Reddit

StumbleUpon

Delicious

YouTube

Yammer

Wordpress

Ning

Squidoo

HubPages

Blogger

Bebo

Orkut

MySpace

Other

None

Fastest growth

Fastest decrease

Figure 4.15: The social

media sites that will

grow and decrease the

most over the next 12

months



13/19


14/19

4.4 The adoption of social media marketing

The remainder of the survey set out to discover the reasons and motivation behind the

adoption of social media marketing by organisations. It did this by investigating reasons for

non-adoption, initial motivation and primary benefits of usage, the effect on other

marketing channels, and the impact of the recession.

4.4.1 Reasons for not adopting social media marketing

Both sets of respondents were asked for the primary reason, in their experience, for

businesses deciding not to adopt social media as a marketing tool. In the case of

organisations, this is more likely have been interpreted to have meant other organisations

that they were aware of, and perhaps even reflected their own reasons before deciding to

3.90%

3.90%

5.90%

5.90%

11.80%

11.80%

15.70%

15.70%

15.70%

17.60%

23.50%45.10%

49.00%

80.40%

88.20%

Cymfony

Techrigy

Core Metrics

DoubleClick

Omniture

Yahoo Web Analytics

Blogpulse

Hubspot

BuzzMetrics

Blogsearch

OtherAny Twitter tool

Technorati

Google Alerts

Google Analytics


Figure 4.17: Tools

used to measure

performance


15/19

use social media. In the case of the consultants, it is likely that their answers referred to a

wider group of organisations.

After merging the results, it is clear that the most popular reason for all respondents relates

to ignorance about the benefits social media might have. A total of 48.1% of organisations

and 45.1% of consultants cited this as the key reason. Interestingly, many more

organisations pointed to nervousness of the consequences of getting involved (21.6%

compared to 5.9% of the consultants). The consultants also provided a long list of Other

reasons not provided by the questionnaire. These included:

Lack of measurability Too time-consuming Inadequate resources Reluctance of management to change

Nervousness about its potential consequences

Ignorance about its potential benefits

Belief that it was not appropriate for theirindustry

Unsatisfactory previous experience

Concentration on other marketing channels

Other

Organisations

Consultants

Figure 4.18: Reasons

for not adopting social

media marketing

Respondents: All


16/19

4.4.2 Initial motivation for the organisations adopting social

media marketing

This sought to identify the reasons behind the respondent organisations decision to use to

social media marketing, a decision that according to Figure 4.10 was most likely taken within

the last two years. This focused in on the reasons why an organisation would use social

media as a marketing tool, not in this instance for any other reason, such as increasing

productivity or collaboration. The data shows that almost a third of organisations, 29.7%,

initiated social media marketing as a way of increasing awareness of their business within

the marketplace. The second most popular reason was increased lead generation and/or

profitability.

4.4.3 Direct benefits of using social media marketing

Where Figure 4.19 concentrated on the motivation behind initially using social media

marketing, Figure 4.20 looks at what has actually happened whether that motivation has

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

5.40%

8.10%

8.10%

13.50%

13.50%21.60%

29.70%

To increase the relevancy of the website traffic

To improve search rankings for your keywords

To increase RSS subscribers

To improve internal communications

To improve understanding of company's reputation

To reach a particular market segment

Other

To increase website traffic

To improve networking/engagement with customersTo increase lead generation and/or profitability

To increase awareness of business within market


Figure 4.19:

Initial motivation

for investing in

social media

marketing


17/19

materialised into tangible benefits. Both sets of respondents were asked for this

information, so the consultants will clearly be talking about the benefits experienced by

their client base.

Although a number of organisations said it was too early to identify clear benefits (note that

none of the consultants ticked that particular box, probably because they could draw from a

wider field of experiences with their clients), their responses demonstrate greater variety

than Figure 4.19. Increased awareness within the marketplace is again highlighted, but by a

smaller majority than Figure 4.19 and there is now a greater variety of other reasons.

There are two clear benefits to social media marketing according to the consultants: an

increased awareness of your business (31.4%) and improved networking or engagement

with customers (33.3%).

Increased awareness of your business within market

Increased lead generation and/or profitability

Increased website traffic

Increased relevancy of website traffic

Improved search rankings for your target keywords

Increased RSS subscribers

Improved networking/engagement with customers

Better internal communications

It's too early to tell

Other

Organisations

Consultants

Respondents: All

Figure 4.20: Primary

benefits of using social

media marketing


18/19

4.4.4 The effect of social media marketing adoption on other

media channels

This question was designed to elicit some indication of whether social media is adding to the

marketing spectrum or, rather, replacing more established techniques and channels. The

data shows that although 37.8% of organisations are choosing simply to add social media to

their armoury, the remaining majority are cutting back in other ways in order to facilitate

the new style of marketing. The main losers are direct mail and print advertising, with 18.9%

each, but no other form of marketing is remaining unscathed.

4.4.5 The impact of the recession

Both sets of respondents are unanimous in their opinion that the recession is going to have

a positive effect on social media marketing (Figure 4.22). A total of 91.9% of the

organisations, alongside 84.3% of the consultants, believed it would have a directeffect on

the new channels popularity.

18.90%

10.80%

10.80%

18.90%

13.50%

5.40%37.80%

13.50%

Print advertising

Television/radio advertising

Trade shows and/or exhibitions

Direct mail

Untargeted email marketing

Cold calling

None of the above

Other


Figure 4.21: Cut

back in marketing

channels as a

result of social

media investment


19/19

Asked to expand on the reasons for this in the only joint question of the survey, 41.6%

pointed to its cost-effectiveness, with the declining effectiveness of other marketing

channels claiming 19.5% as the second most popular explanation.

It will decrease in popularity

No, the recession won't affect it

Yes

Organisations

Consultants

Figure 4.22: Will the

recession increase

popularity of social

media marketing?

Respondents: Organisations and Consultants

6.50%

7.80%

10.40%

14.30%

19.50%

41.60%

Its measurability

Other

All the hype surrounding it currently

Its ability to generate new leads and customers

The declining effectiveness of other marketing

channels

Its cost-effectiveness

Respondents: All

Figure 4.23: Reasons

for SMM benefitting

from a recession

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Social Media and Corporate Adoption MBA Survey - The Results

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