Nearly all major corporate brands\u00a0in South Africa\u00a0have some form of social media strategy aimed at consumers, according to new data released on Wednesday\u00a0(3 October 2012), however, not all are\u00a0convinced\u00a0by its effectiveness.<\/p>\n
The South African Social Media Landscape 2012 study, released by technology market researchers World Wide Worx<\/a> and information analysts Fuseware<\/a>, revealed that 95% of major corporations surveyed have some form of social media strategy, however, only 51% believe their efforts on Facebook<\/a> are effective \u2013 and only 33% believe they are effective on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe survey shows that corporate South Africa has woken up to social media, but it hasn’t yet figured out how to dress for the role,\u201d said World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck<\/a>. \u201cMost large companies are still neutral on the impact of social media, and are still feeling their way.\u201d<\/p>\n The report includes analysis of South African consumers\u2019 use of Facebook, Twitter, Mxit<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, Pinterest<\/a> and Foursquare<\/a>, as well as a survey conducted among corporate brand owners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe interviewed representatives of 61 major brands, and found that corporate use of social networks tended to be a case of responding to media hype,\u201d said Fuseware managing director Mike Wronski<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most popular social media platform in South Africa, Mxit, is used as a marketing tool by only one out of five large brands. This compares to Facebook, with nine out 10 using it, and Youtube<\/a>, with two out of three.\u201d<\/p>\n Other key findings announced include:<\/p>\n The survey showed that that corporate brands are also still getting to grips with how to measure their social media effectiveness. While 74% use the number of followers as a key measure on Twitter, only 24% measure the number of their own customers who are followers.<\/p>\n Similarly, while 72% measure effectiveness according to comments and mentions, only one in four consider sentiment analysis, i.e. evaluating the positive or negative tone of the comments.<\/p>\n An even bigger gap is seen on Facebook, where 83% of brands live by comments and mentions, but only 37% use Sentiment analysis.<\/p>\n \u201cThe survey shows that companies haven\u2019t quite figured out what is more important,\u201d said Goldstuck. \u201cIt comes down to separating volume from value, and that takes time and energy, rather than just a dashboard of numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n Wronski added: \u201cWhen we asked companies what barriers were preventing marketers from getting more value out of social media, the most commonly cited was, \u2018Time to properly manage these channels\u2019. This is the largest bottleneck to social media success. Brands are struggling to allocate resources and time to manage social channels.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n Facebook\u2019s balancing act<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Local investors shun Facebook<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n LinkedIn closes in on 2 million SA users<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n