/PRNewswire/ -- Georgia's top public and private companies scored a D for social media engagement in 2009, according to a new study by Wunderkind Public Relations, an Atlanta-based communications strategy and services company. The Social Media Engagement (SME) scorecard reflects the activity of corporations and their chief executives in social media channels for Georgia's top 25 public and top 25 private companies, as determined by revenue and published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle 2009 Book of Lists. Wunderkind Public Relations established a company's score based on its use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and a corporate blog.
"Clearly, there are corporations in the study that are effectively using social media marketing and networking on a daily basis, but the data shows the large majority of companies in Georgia are still evaluating social media as a business tool," said Steve McAbee, president and founder, Wunderkind Public Relations. "We expect this to change in 2010 as more companies seek to employ tools and technology to further extend their marketing budgets including social media, which provides businesses with an affordable content distribution option to supplement higher-cost initiatives."
Companies received a point for each of the five social media tools they employ, for a maximum score of five, where a perfect score is equivalent to an A grade. Data from the Georgia SME scorecard shows business-to-consumer (B2C) companies are more than twice as engaged with customers and prospects online than their business-to-business (B2B) counterparts. Private B2C companies had the highest SME score (3.2), followed by public B2C companies (3.0), public B2B companies (1.76), and finally private B2B companies (1.6). Omitting LinkedIn, a popular professional networking service, less than 20 percent of the companies researched appear to have an ongoing social media effort, though data was insufficient to conclude whether or not the channels were utilized with any frequency or as part of an integrated marketing plan.
Four Georgia companies received perfect scores: AGCO Corp., the Coca-Cola Company, Delta Airlines, and Infor Global Solutions. These companies utilize a variety of channels to create an interactive dialogue with customers, prospects and employees. On the other hand, thirty-one companies received a score of 2 or less, and all but one company is using some channel of social media. Data also concluded that public companies as a whole, whether B2C or B2B, are more engaged (2.36) than private companies (1.92).
Worldwide, companies are utilizing the emerging medium to strategically and methodically establish or reinforce their influence, reputation and brand within communities of existing and potential customers, prospects and other supporters. Most effective when integrated with more established marketing channels, social media is being embraced by companies of all sizes for its low-cost content distribution model and as a powerful catalyst for viral marketing. On social media sites, groups of individuals with different points of views are empowered to collectively determine the value or importance of content disseminated throughout the community. In most cases, users are given the editorial power to influence the visibility of content, providing significant insight to companies regarding their brand, products and services.
Highlights of the Georgia Social Media Engagement Scorecard:
-- LinkedIn is the most popular social networking service; 96% of all
companies have a LinkedIn page, followed by Facebook (42%) and Twitter
(38%)
-- Only 9 companies received a SME score of 4 or better
-- CEOs lack engagement with an average SME score of .26
-- 12 companies have a dedicated YouTube channel while only 7 have a blog
-- Only 1 CEO contributes to the company blog
Georgia CEOs Use LinkedIn More Than Other Channels
Among the chief executives of Georgia's top companies, data showed CEOs of private companies are more engaged than those of public companies, though almost all of that is attributed to their LinkedIn profiles. Thirty-two percent of private CEOs maintain a profile on LinkedIn, compared to only 16 percent of their counterparts in public enterprise. None of Georgia's top CEOs maintains a public-facing Facebook account.
Outside of Georgia, some CEO early-adopters, like Tony Hseih of Zappos, Virgin Group's Richard Branson, Guy Kawasaki of Garage Technology Ventures and AllTop, and Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems, are engaged with the public through a wide spectrum of social media tools from Twitter to blogs.
A new generation of corporate leadership is emerging and the C-suite is being occupied by an increasingly more digitally connected network. For B2C companies this means another touchpoint to the customer--a personal connection between company leadership and the consumer. In B2B circles, the rise of the social CEO means their customers, the executives who make purchasing decisions, will be dramatically more engaged and will seek to connect with vendors or research the brand's reputation through online channels.
"We certainly aren't advocating that all CEOs jump on the social media bandwagon - there are too many variables for social media to be one-size-fits-all - but the extremely low adoption rate among CEOs in Georgia is interesting given the explosive growth of social media in 2009," said McAbee. "This medium can provide CEOs an open line of communication with customers, investors and partners to start a constructive, long-term and transparent dialogue. However, before the CEO becomes involved with social media, the brand itself should get it right."
In the wake of a worldwide recession, many companies have recognized how the broad use of online tools can help attract and retain customers and have embraced social media out of an appreciation for the power online customers wield over brands, corporate reputations and public opinion. Additionally, younger generations of workers and college students are well connected and digitally engaged, making social media an effective tool for talent recruiting. These factors, combined with social media's low cost of entry, demonstrate social media's growing importance and are among the reasons analyst firms predict social media marketing budgets will quadruple over the next five years.
"The Georgia study found the majority of companies are participating in one-way conversations where they have complete control," said McAbee. "The real impact social media can have on an organization will only be fully realized when a company engages with its audiences by monitoring and managing the online conversation and participating in two-way communication. We look forward to following the progress of social media usage among Georgia's businesses and updating the results in next year's study."
Additional Information:
-- Wunderkind Public Relations' Georgia Social Media Engagement Scorecard
SlideShare
-- Georgia Social Media Engagement Scorecard Methodology
-- Georgia Social Media Engagement Company Index
-- Whitepaper: Is Social Media Right for B2B Companies?
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Consumers Use Over $3.5 Billion in Coupons, Drive 27% Increase in Redemption for 2009
(BUSINESS WIRE)--Inmar, the nation’s leading promotion transaction settlement provider, reported today that annual coupon use is on the rise for the first time since 1992 and coupon distribution hit the highest level recorded since the company began tracking trends in 1988. For the first time in 17 years, consumers used more coupons than they did the year before, with 3.3 billion consumer packaged goods coupons redeemed, an explosive 27% increase over the 2.6 billion redeemed in 2008.
“Brands saw coupons as a key to maintaining brand strength”
The rise in coupon use started in October of 2008, coinciding with news of the U.S. financial crisis. That has led to five consecutive quarters of double-digit growth (based on percentage change from the same period of the previous year).
The increase in redemption goes hand-in-hand with an increase in distribution. Despite the tight economy, marketers invested heavily in coupons, boosting the number available to the highest level in over 30 years. Brands issued 367 billion coupons, at an average face value of $1.44, indicating that they were committed to promotions in 2009.
News America Marketing, the company behind the SmartSource Magazine coupon inserts and consumer coupon site www.smartsource.com, says the data supports what they saw last year.
“There has been a noticeable increase in page count over the past year,” said News America Marketing EVP of Marketing, Jesse Aversano. “Manufacturers understand that in a tough economy, coupons are an effective and efficient way to spend their advertising dollar.”
“Brands saw coupons as a key to maintaining brand strength,” adds Matthew Tilley, Director of Marketing for Inmar’s promotion services division. “If they reduced their promotional presence, they stood to lose sales to lower priced competitors and store brands – so they doubled down hoping to create brand loyalty once the economic dust settles.”
News America Marketing also reported an increase in retailer promotion pages in its free-standing insert (FSI), driven primarily by the shift in advertising and promotion dollars to Shopper Marketing initiatives, according to Aversano.
Online coupons also contributed to the rise in coupon distribution and redemption, with Internet distribution up 92% and consumer redemption of these coupons up over 360%.
“The weekly prints from SmartSource.com are more than double what we saw a year ago, which was double what our 2007 numbers were,” said Aversano. “However, in spite of the meteoric rise in online and digital couponing, the traditional newspaper-distributed FSI still accounts for 89% of all coupons distributed and over half of the coupons redeemed. Consumers expect to find coupons in their Sunday papers, and we’ll continue to be there for them. But they’ll also find us online, in stores, on cell phones and anywhere else that they want to find them.”
As coupon numbers across the board were on the rise in 2009, brands were forced to mitigate the cost of increased redemption by maintaining face values and keeping expiration periods in check. In 2009, face values declined by a penny, reversing a multi-year trend of increasing values. Expiration periods were shortened by 10% last year, despite years of virtually no change.
“This is an exciting time to be in the coupon business,” said Tilley. “Of course, we don’t know how long this upward trend will continue, but it is evident that coupons are back on shoppers’ radar; the economic downturn has instilled a drive to be smart and frugal about spending and coupons definitely have a role in fulfilling it.”
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage
“Brands saw coupons as a key to maintaining brand strength”
The rise in coupon use started in October of 2008, coinciding with news of the U.S. financial crisis. That has led to five consecutive quarters of double-digit growth (based on percentage change from the same period of the previous year).
The increase in redemption goes hand-in-hand with an increase in distribution. Despite the tight economy, marketers invested heavily in coupons, boosting the number available to the highest level in over 30 years. Brands issued 367 billion coupons, at an average face value of $1.44, indicating that they were committed to promotions in 2009.
News America Marketing, the company behind the SmartSource Magazine coupon inserts and consumer coupon site www.smartsource.com, says the data supports what they saw last year.
“There has been a noticeable increase in page count over the past year,” said News America Marketing EVP of Marketing, Jesse Aversano. “Manufacturers understand that in a tough economy, coupons are an effective and efficient way to spend their advertising dollar.”
“Brands saw coupons as a key to maintaining brand strength,” adds Matthew Tilley, Director of Marketing for Inmar’s promotion services division. “If they reduced their promotional presence, they stood to lose sales to lower priced competitors and store brands – so they doubled down hoping to create brand loyalty once the economic dust settles.”
News America Marketing also reported an increase in retailer promotion pages in its free-standing insert (FSI), driven primarily by the shift in advertising and promotion dollars to Shopper Marketing initiatives, according to Aversano.
Online coupons also contributed to the rise in coupon distribution and redemption, with Internet distribution up 92% and consumer redemption of these coupons up over 360%.
“The weekly prints from SmartSource.com are more than double what we saw a year ago, which was double what our 2007 numbers were,” said Aversano. “However, in spite of the meteoric rise in online and digital couponing, the traditional newspaper-distributed FSI still accounts for 89% of all coupons distributed and over half of the coupons redeemed. Consumers expect to find coupons in their Sunday papers, and we’ll continue to be there for them. But they’ll also find us online, in stores, on cell phones and anywhere else that they want to find them.”
As coupon numbers across the board were on the rise in 2009, brands were forced to mitigate the cost of increased redemption by maintaining face values and keeping expiration periods in check. In 2009, face values declined by a penny, reversing a multi-year trend of increasing values. Expiration periods were shortened by 10% last year, despite years of virtually no change.
“This is an exciting time to be in the coupon business,” said Tilley. “Of course, we don’t know how long this upward trend will continue, but it is evident that coupons are back on shoppers’ radar; the economic downturn has instilled a drive to be smart and frugal about spending and coupons definitely have a role in fulfilling it.”
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Drucker Society of Georgia Launches on Peter F. Drucker’s 100th Birthday
(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Drucker Society of Georgia is launching on November 19, 2009, which is the 100th birthday of the late and legendary management thinker Peter F. Drucker. The mission of the Georgia chapter is to improve the lives of young people in Georgia by applying Peter Drucker’s principles—in conjunction with Georgia educational, government, community and business leaders.
The Drucker Society of Georgia will work with leaders in Georgia education, government, community and business organizations who are committed to improving the lives of young men and women in a sustainable way. Over time, the organization plans to engage 100 leaders who can impact the lives of 1 million young men and women through institutional reinvention—using the Drucker-inspired principles and tools articulated in Reinvent Your Enterprise.
The Drucker Society of Georgia is being co-founded by Jack Bergstrand and Rod Walker. Walker will serve as president of the organization, and he is a current board member of Communities in Schools of Atlanta, past board member of 100 Black Men of America and a graduate of Leadership DeKalb. Walker is a business strategy executive at The North Highland Company, holds BS and MS degrees from Clark Atlanta University, and has an Executive MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC.
Jack Bergstrand is author of Reinvent Your Enterprise, a book endorsed by Rick Wartzman, executive director of the Drucker Institute. He is founder and CEO of Brand Velocity, Inc., the Atlanta-based project acceleration company based on Drucker’s principles. Bergstrand was previously head of the global information technology function of The Coca-Cola Company, is a doctoral candidate at The George Washington University, and has a master’s degree in management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
To launch this effort, 100 free copies of Reinvent Your Enterprise will be distributed to educational, government, community and business leaders across Georgia on Peter Drucker’s 100th birthday—sponsored by Brand Velocity, Inc.
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
The Drucker Society of Georgia will work with leaders in Georgia education, government, community and business organizations who are committed to improving the lives of young men and women in a sustainable way. Over time, the organization plans to engage 100 leaders who can impact the lives of 1 million young men and women through institutional reinvention—using the Drucker-inspired principles and tools articulated in Reinvent Your Enterprise.
The Drucker Society of Georgia is being co-founded by Jack Bergstrand and Rod Walker. Walker will serve as president of the organization, and he is a current board member of Communities in Schools of Atlanta, past board member of 100 Black Men of America and a graduate of Leadership DeKalb. Walker is a business strategy executive at The North Highland Company, holds BS and MS degrees from Clark Atlanta University, and has an Executive MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC.
Jack Bergstrand is author of Reinvent Your Enterprise, a book endorsed by Rick Wartzman, executive director of the Drucker Institute. He is founder and CEO of Brand Velocity, Inc., the Atlanta-based project acceleration company based on Drucker’s principles. Bergstrand was previously head of the global information technology function of The Coca-Cola Company, is a doctoral candidate at The George Washington University, and has a master’s degree in management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
To launch this effort, 100 free copies of Reinvent Your Enterprise will be distributed to educational, government, community and business leaders across Georgia on Peter Drucker’s 100th birthday—sponsored by Brand Velocity, Inc.
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
