The Center for Marketing Research released the results of a study that study that researches the number of companies in the Inc. 500 that use social media and other forms of new media. Kudos to John Cass who I believe blogged about this study first.
What I found fascinating about the study results was how much media marketing has captured the minds (and marketing efforts) of the Inc. 500. Consider that “Over one quarter of the Inc. 500 studied report social media is very important to their business/marketing strategy”. This is an incredibly high amount for a marketing medium that has become mainstream in less than a year. To put that 25% in perspective, only 19% of the Inc. 500 are currently pursuing any time of blogging strategy.
This was a pretty in-depth study. From the report:
The respondents are diverse in industry, size and location. They include 4 of the top 10, 7 of the top 25, and 22 of the top 100 companies from the Inc. 500 list. The 121 companies who responded were asked detailed questions concerning their usage and measurement of social media. Questions probed familiarity of respondents with six prominent social media (blogging, podcasting, online video, social networking, wikis).
So what did the study reveal about the social marketing efforts of Inc. 500 companies? Well the first question asked how familiar the companies were with the six social media tactics (blogging, podcasting, online video, social networking, wikis).
- Social Netwoking – 42%
- Message/Bulleting Boards – 38%
- Blogging – 36%
- Online Video – 31%
- Podcasting – 30%
- Wiki – 16%
I was a little surprised at how familiar that the Inc. 500 companies were with these social marketing tactics, but it appears that the Inc. 500 knows far more about social media than we had previously thought.
The second question asked the question “Which of the following types of social media does your company use?”
- Message/Bulleting Boards – 33%
- Social Networking – 27%
- Online Video – 24%
- Blogging – 19%
- Wikis – 17%
- Podcasting – 11%
These are fascinating numbers. That a third of the Inc. 500 companies are engaged in two-way conversations with their customers is amazing to me. The growth of video is well documented, but that more Inc 500 companies use video instead of blogging is eye-opening as well as the fact that Wikis and blogging are both used about the same.
This leads to the obvious next question. “How important is social media to your business/marketing strategy?”
- Very Important – 26%
- Somewhat Important – 40%
- Somewhat Unimportant – 19%
- Very Unimportant – 13%
- No Response – 2%
That two thirds of the Inc. 500 companies believe that social media plays an important role in the business/marketing strategy is eye opening. Social media has really taken off over the last six months and it is really exciting to see that the fast-growing innovative companies of the Inc. 500 are leading the way.
As the researchers Eric and Nora and put in “The social media revolution is here. The hype is real”.
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I don’t know that admitting to ‘trying’ a social media marketing platform (blogs, social networks)necessarily translates to longer term adoption of the approach. My interpretation is that you have many early adopters (and 15-20% would be about right)who are experimenting with the tactics, and probably an even greater number who have been getting the pitch from their advertising and PR agencies to try it (they need to build some credentials too). The 26% who believe that it is a very important strategy for them is an important metric; it is around the quantitative tipping point for innovation adoption. So hold on in 2007 as the results from these early efforts come in and are very positive.
Also note that social marketing has been around for almost 35 years. Over that time we have gotten pretty good at using marketing to improve health and social conditions around the world using a variety of media tactics including street theater, television, radio and social networks. And we do adapt with new technologies; nice to see Fortune 500 companies are doing the same.
Interesting insight Craig. I think that social media moved passed the tipping point towards widespread adoption by Inc. 500 companies. That all six of the social media tactics surveyed are seeing double-digit usage indicates that we have moved beyond innovation adoption.
As you say, the concept of social marketing is not new which might explain why online forums/message/bulletin boards which have been around a lot longer than the other tactics have a higher adoption rate.
thanks David, this is an important study, and illustrates that further research needs to be conducted into blogging and social media. Hope to see more from Nora and Eric.
I have to agree Lisa Whalen (http://socialmedia.vox.com, article at http://tinyurl.com/36au8n) that embracing Social Media could potentially be a driver for growth in new companies who need creative/cheap ways to brand themselves and generate awareness. Social Media is relatively cheap compared to buying air time or space on the WSJ, so it would be silly for an upstart not to try.
While the Inc 500 report is useful, I am still looking forward to the day when a Social Media survey on Fortune 500s finds similar results compared to this Inc 500 study. Its when the “established” companies begin to rapidly embrace it will Social Media go mainstream.
I found social media optimization very important.I am implementing it on my website http://www.stikciewicket.com
Blogging, podcast,wikis,social networking each and every strategy has its important role.
Thank you all for sharing yours ideas.