UK marketers prefer online or social media channels as the best routes to reach target audiences, with only 3% choosing cold-calling as their preferred means of reaching prospects.
The study, from Crimson Hexagon, surveyed marketers in London which reveals the stark contrast in popularity between online and social media, and traditional marketing communications.
An emphatic 56% of respondents now select either online or social media channels as their most effective routes to target audiences.
Just 3% opt for each of cold calling, word-of-mouth, branding and sponsorship, and mobile advertising, while 2% prioritised editorial marketing. Only face-to-face events are valued as approaching the effectiveness of digital channels (19%).
Crimson Hexagon’s survey polled 114 London-based technology and marketing professionals to gather opinions on the most and least effective communication channels for engaging with consumers. It asked which channels were now the smart choice for understanding attitudes towards the most influential UK brands and companies, and also which channels are the most successful routes for complaint.
The following key findings were revealed in survey analysis:
– More than half of those surveyed believe social media and online channels are the most effective for engaging with their customers. Given the choice between broadcast, print, online, social media, mobile advertising, branding and sponsorships, editorial, word-of-mouth, cold calling, and face-to-face events, respondents reveal an equal split between online (28%) and social media (28%) for the most effective communications outlet
– Nearly half of respondents agree that cold calling is the least effective channel for communicating with customers. Given the same options, 40% agree cold calling is least effective. Broadcast (18%) and print (11%) follow as ineffective outlets
– BBC, Virgin, Sky, Tesco and Innocent Smoothies are named influential UK brands. Survey respondents rank these five brands as the most followed and influential UK brands on Twitter. However, BBC still receive just 9% of the vote, while Innocent Smoothies receive 4%
– One fifth of survey participants rank Twitter as effective channel of complaint. Exactly 20% of survey respondents say Twitter is now one of the most effective routes by which to contact organisations to submit complaints. The telephone is the only channel that ranks higher, with 27%. Letters (9%), Facebook (5%) and company websites (2%) are regarded as less effective
– Almost three quarters of respondents select retail, media or restaurants as the most effective industries on social media. Hospitals, schools, banks and government agencies rank lowest in the same category with 25%, 19%, 19% and 14% respectively
Curt Bloom, president of Crimson Hexagon said: “This study confirms the growing trust and reliance that businesses and their customers now place in social media channels. Marketers and brands alike are now seizing fresh opportunities to strategically analyse these engagements and conversations to gain business insights they can really act on. At Crimson Hexagon, we provide our clients with a deep understanding of online conversations through our unique social media analysis platform. ForSight goes beyond simple metrics and figures to offer a graphic analysis of consumer opinion and sentiment, delivering intelligence for businesses and executives looking to make smarter, more informed business decisions.”
ForSight, Crimson Hexagon’s patented platform, is powered by a unique, language agnostic algorithm that combines human judgment with computer scalability, to measure sentiment across billions of social media conversations. In addition to sourcing from the full Twitter Firehose, public Facebook posts and millions of blogs, ForSight has added consumer review data including TripAdvisor, Amazon and Epinions. The platform recently surpassed 260 billion social media posts in its database – a major industry milestone – and continues to add an additional one billion posts every two days.
http://www.crimsonhexagon.com