At Watson King we surveyed the websites of the Top 100 European manufacturers of office furniture products, the results showed that 13 percent use no form of social media at all and 25 percent use less than three types. There are also some surprising results on which the most popular channels are. There is evidence to suggest that companies are unsure about the most effective way to use social media channels and which ones are the most appropriate to select. Also, there appears to be fundamental issues on how to integrate social media and communication channels to get the best results.
Also, the way in which companies set up to communicate with their clients, tends to follow very traditional methods and separate the three key elements in Social Media and Communications (Smac). These three are:
- requesting “please Follow us” so we can tell you important things
- please “Share our information” so important information goes to your network
- here is how we can “Make Contact” so we can talk and help you
Having these functions in separate places on a web site is inefficient and with a little creativity could be much more effective. So, does all this really matter? Well some companies without social media content are very successful, but the exception to the rule only really works if you are seasoned marketeers.