Social media ‘here to stay’ in the marketing mix
Marketers and media owners plan to shift more resources into social media over the next 12 months, with over a half of respondents in a new survey saying “it has its place” in the marketing mix.
The new findings in the latest Mumbrella Industry Snapshot survey has revealed that over 30 per cent of those interviewed believe there will be “significantly more resource put into using social media” next year, while 48 per cent said there would be “some” shift.
Around 16 per cent said there would be “no major change in focus towards social media”.
When questioned about how integral social media was viewed as part of the overall marketing mix, 14.4 per cent of respondents said it was “essential”, while 20.5 per cent said it was “very important”.
The majority of respondents – 52.9 per cent – said “it has its place”. Only 6 per cent said it was “over hyped or over rated”.
When asked “what has been the most significant change the media and marketing industries have gone through in the last decade?”, many respondents pointed to the rise of digital media and marketers’ demands to have digital as part of their ad spend. Added to this, social media was a reoccurring theme among responses, as consumers increasingly interact through social media.
One respondent said: “Social media is becoming mainstream and developing as a viable communication tool.”
However, for the 6 per cent of respondents who believe it is “over hyped and over rated”, one said: “The explosion of social media, especially Twitter is often no more than a two to three year passing fad.”
The latest survey comes in the wake of companies such as Telstra taking a pro-active approach in the social media space, launching a compulsory staff training programme and social media policy.
The telco this year caught much media attention over its public row with Leslie Nassar, the employee who went on Twitter as the Fake Stephen Conroy.
Meanwhile, Toyota is reviewing its internal processes following widespread criticism over the release of a video used to promote the Toyota Yaris. It formed part of the car maker’s first live social media pitch.
Qantas is also currently recruiting to fill a new position created to drive the airline’s online and social media strategy.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
The 6 percent who say that Twitter is a 2-3 year passing fad interest me. What do they think will replace it? Telstra is active in social media because our customers, ex-customers and potential customers interact in real time in those places. There’s nothing new about corporations accessing channels where customers do their thing. What is new is the need to be human, accessible and very real. As I’m typing this, an online game is being played on Twitter: people are tweeting a question to @Telstra. They are mainly silly questions (“will acid wash denim come back” or “what’s love got to do with it?”) and our responses are suitably playful and lighthearted. We are blessed with a great team who are happy to be themselves online but also know they are representing Telstra. This will end soon and our Twitter team will get back to helping customers – but in the meantime we’ve made a connection and humanised the brand. Vive la social media.
Kristen Boschma
Head of Online Comms and Social Media
Telstra
User ID not verified.
I’m waiting for the standard post from Trent Lloyd to appear.
See the previous Qantas article……
User ID not verified.
@Kristen Are you trying to say you have made a humanoid version of Telstra? I am thinking Bill Lumbergh is the epitome of a Telstra humanoid..
User ID not verified.
. @Tom How did you know? Bill is my hero – I love everything about him: the vanity plates on his Porsche, the way he spoke and his obsession with paperwork. What a leader. However, I think you need to add a dash of Lara Croft, a pinch of Gomer Pyle and a good glug of Super Mario to really get a handle on the type of humanoid we were trying to create.
If you could go ahead and make another comment that would be great.
User ID not verified.
Humanising Telstra..hmmm could take a while
User ID not verified.