UK tech brands need more tweet
While UK tech brands are clearly taking steps forward in using social networks, the vast majority aren’t actually being that social, according to the Putting The ‘Social’ Into Social Media from Wildfire PR.
In fact, while 90% of technology firms in the Wildfire study were able to boasts presences on two or more social networks – with Twitter the most popular – good old push marketing still prevails, as 60% of companies with a Facebook page use it purely as a distribution channel, 57% of companies with a Twitter account use it solely for one-way marketing activity, and only 25% of blogs receive comments on a regular basis.
Wildfire quite rightly points out that Twitter provides an unprecedented opportunity to engage directly and build a community of followers united by common interests. Yet, only 3% of the tech brand tweets found in the study were retweets, and just 12% were replies. Shockingly, 43% of brands with a Twitter account had never replied to a tweet.
“Tech companies are using Twitter to broadcast messages, but they are not engaging with their stakeholders and are therefore missing an opportunity to build community and influence,” the report says. “Twitter itself makes no secret of its desire to help brands adopt the service, with the continued rumours of a Twitter Corporate service coming soon and the recent addition of the Sponsored Tweets advertising scheme.”
Technology companies need to step back and reassess how they are using social media, says Wildfire.
“They need to look at their target audience and carefully consider the best channels to reach them. Not every social media network will be relevant – and it may be that social media is not right for a brand at all – but if they do want to embark on social media activity, clear objectives and strategy from the outset is critical.”
brand-e: no surprise at all that tech geeks aren’t great at comms, but there’s opportunity here for social media agencies
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