CorpComms Magazine

Almost half of marketing and communications professionals admitted they do not understand social media channels well enough to know how to exploit them effectively in marketing campaigns, according to the 2010 Social Media Index by global advertiser McCann Erickson.

This is despite a marked increase in the use of social media for communications activities over the last 12 months. Three out of five PR professionals now identify social media as part of their day jobs. Use of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as a campaign tool was up 22 per cent on average since 2009. The microblogging site Twitter has come furthest with a 28 per cent increase in usage over the year, and three out of five marketing professionals now regularly distributing news stories via the site.

These working habits represent a significant turnaround from last year, when 46 per cent of respondents were barred from accessing social networks at work. The figure for 2010 is roughly half that at 24 per cent, however this means one in four PR professionals is still prevented from exploiting some of the most popular digital media for marketing and monitoring purposes.

Whilst many respondents expressed eagerness to understand social media better almost a quarter confessed they found it difficult to keep up with its constant advances and to identify genuine 'experts' in the field who they could turn to for guidance.

Joanna Randall, head of PR and social media communications at McCann Erickson Bristol, commented: 'Some of these results are very encouraging; there is clearly an upward trend in overall usage of social media as a marketing communications channel. However, we would still like to see some of the barriers removed for UK marketers, particularly, where access is blocked at work and there is a clear need for more information and training specifically targeted to marketers.'

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