The social engagement marketing company ComBlu released their second annual research "State of the Branded Communities" that talks about why social marketing integration improves in companies. The study shows that 33% of the studied brands are connecting their social engagement efforts strongly with other marketing activities. This is an uplift by 13% compared to 2009.
The research further illustrates that companies align their integration between brands' sponsored community sites and their other social assets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube - an increase from 32% to 76%. The main challenge though will be to dedicate a community manager to the social programs as nearly half of brands have no visible community manager in place. Although the humanization of brands is one of the crucial pillars of a social web strategy, most brands don't establish a face next to the brand that makes interactions more personal. Maybe as they fear this person will leave the company some day...?
In many seminars and webinars I have mentioned that most companies -although obeying the rules of social marketing tactics- are still in a trial-and-error mode. The study again states as well that social experimentation remains the most common type of community marketing category, with the percentage remaining virtually the same as last year. And although many social media consultants love the word social media strategy -5 of the 78 reviewed brands lack a long-term engagement approach and instead use a series of one-off social campaigns. If this is the right approach fro a sustainability point of view for the business is still "q.e.d".
Spot On!
It is also interesting that fewer than 40% of the brands have rewards and recognition programs in place. Fewer than 40% of brands have a rewards and recognition program. The ComBlu study (Download) could only identify 20% of the brands that have a clear advocate base. Although the importance of these brandvangelists will become a crucial part for loyalty commitment for brands in the future. So, companies should not miss out on these esential opportunities. Otherwise the "voice of the loyal customer" and its impact on buzz metrics will get lost.
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