The Fuel Blog

POSTED BY: Stacey Harris - Thursday 09th February 2012

How sociable are you?

How sociable is your brand? Why does this matter? Latest research from global PR agency, Weber Shandwick (in partnership with research company Forbes Insights) suggests that having a strong social media presence (or ‘sociability’, as described in the report) is a key driver in your company’s overall reputation.

The research states that global executives, from the world’s top class companies, attribute 52% of their brand’s reputation on how sociable they are online, up from 45% one year ago. The research predicts this increase will continue to hit 65% in three years. That’s an amazing five-year growth rate of 44%. Moreover, one third of all global executives with digital / marketing responsibilities view their “quality of online presence or engagement” as a core factor to their company’s overall reputation.

While considering that social media is one of the fastest growing trends during these difficult economic times, it’s no surprise that the research found that universally 87% of all global executives had social media brand strategies, and that nearly all (97%) use at least one social media tool. However, 63% of those global executives admitted that they had not integrated their social media strategies with their core marketing and communication strategies. In addition, 16% stated that their brand’s presence / sociability was ‘world-classed’ this leaves 84% who felt theirs was lacking – that’s surprising as, stated above, 87% currently have social media strategies in place.

The research also identifies nine key drivers as a guide to successful brand sociability, these include:

• It’s not the medium – and it’s more than the message
• Put your brand in motion
• Integrate or die
• Make social central
• Listen more than you talk
• Count what matters – meaningful engagement
• Think global
• Go outside to get inside
• Be vigilant

Nikos Lemanis, Head of Online Marketing, elaborates: "Of the nine key drivers above, for me the most important is 'make social central'. Socialising your brand and your marketing activity has become imperative as community recommendation and open communication channels become ever more important drivers of consumer purchasing decisions. Social channels let you listen to and engage your audiences in a much more organic way, and the benefits of this shouldn't be underestimated."

This research was gathered from an online survey conducted in spring 2011 with 1,897 senior executives from high-revenue companies across 50 countries.

The research can be access via this PDF

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