Study Reveals How City Governments Use Social Media

Marketers are instinctively curious about how different industries in the private sector use social media (See earlier posts about event planners,  law firms, etc.). However, it can also be extremely beneficial to take a look at what our colleagues in the public sector are doing, as well.

For example, researchers at the University of Illinois recently ranked big city governments on their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube performance, and the results are quite intriguing. When the researchers compared 2009 data with findings from March through May of 2011, they noted several significant shifts, including:

Which Social Media Brands Are the Strongest?

Many consumers use Facebook for online social networking. Others would rather engage via Twitter. Lots of the business professionals I know like LinkedIn the best. Taking all these different preferences into account, how would you rank the value of today’s social network brands?

Before you answer, consider for a moment what the brand value rating agency BV4 has to say on the subject. Just yesterday, BV4 released what’s being billed as the first-ever ranking of social network brands.

According to the analysis, the top four social media brands are:

Study: Canadian Consumers Most Influenced by Media Opinions and Traditional Media Marketing

As channel options continue to proliferate, marketers need to remain vigilant, carefully gauging responses and reevaluating which ones are most effective –and who, if anyone, can now influence a consumer’s path to purchase.

For example, a recent study from the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF) found that beyond celebrity endorsements and social media reviews, traditional media opinions still reign supreme in shaping Canadians’ purchasing decisions, although there is a significant generational gap emerging.

The study, entitled The Impact of Influence, Uncovers Hierarchy of Influences that Pave Consumers’ Path to Purchase, looked at what marketing methods people felt played the greatest roles in helping them decide on what and what not to buy.  After polling more than one thousand Canadian adults, the CCPRF concluded that:

Less Than 10 Percent of B2B Companies Are Extensively Leveraging Social Media

We know that B2B decision makers are active on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Unfortunately, though, it appears that most B2B companies are missing out on valuable opportunities to connect with these prospects and customers across today’s social media platforms.

After polling more than 200 B2B marketing executives, the management consulting firm Accenture found that the majority of them (65 percent) believe social media is important to their companies’ business. But, as remarkable as it sounds, only a mere eight percent of those surveyed said their companies are extensively leveraging social media networks for their businesses.

The research also revealed that:

GlobalWebIndex Says B2B Are Most Engaged Social Media Users on Planet

After compiling data from some 100,000 surveys covering 27 different markets, GlobalWebIndex reached two conclusions:

B2B decision makers are the most engaged social media users on the planet,

and

B2B buyers are the most socially engaged online users across the world.

Bold? Sure.

But, the research appears to back them up.

According to the summary of GlobalWebIndex’s new study, Social Strategy for B2B Marketing: