53% of companies use social media, but half don’t have a strategy

Fifty three percent of companies currently use social media as a marketing tool, but half of these are being ad hoc in their approach conceding they don’t have a social media strategy at all, according to a new report.

The report, ‘Channel Vision,’ put together by design, print and marketing specialists Catalogues 4 Business, questioned 123 organisations within the UK, asking them a number of questions around their current and future business and marketing plans.

Looking ahead at the next 12 months, many of the companies interviewed will be introducing a number of new tools to their marketing mix, with social media and digital marketing topping the list. Just over a third are adding it to their marketing activities this year, with a fifth looking to add a website with e-commerce functionality for the first time.

Ian Simpson, managing director at Catalogues4Business comments: “It’s great to see so many companies embracing social media and digital marketing. It can be a very powerful tool, but as with most marketing activities, there must be a strategy in place, and some joined up thinking. This will ensure each marketing activity is working with each other and working to the max. Otherwise you can quickly find you’ve wasted a lot of time, and money, and not got much to show for it.”