Canadian companies consider engaging in social media crucial and necessary, providing acompetitive advantage and business opportunities, according to the latest survey by UPS Canada.
In cooperation with Leger Marketing, the largest Canadian-owned polling, research and strategicmarketing firm, UPS Canada conducted an online survey among a sample of 255 Canadian businessdecision makers including CEOs, executive level and senior managers. It revealed that Canadianbusinesses of all kinds are currently using social media while large, youthful organisations,especially those with 500 or more employees, where 78% were using it. However, social media seemsless popular within organisations led by older Canadians aged over 50, with only 54% using it.
According to the quarterly survey, more than half (55%) of business leaders in the country saythey use social media for business purposes, such as market research, promotion and clientrelations. Social networks such as Facebook and Google are the preferred platforms forbusiness-related pages for 82% of respondents, while sites such as Twitter and YouTube are alsoused by almost half of members of the business community − 48% and 47% respectively.
Paul Gaspar, UPS Canada Director of Small Business, said: “Social media represents a powerfuland cost-effective tool that, when used properly, can help any business grow. Canadian businessesare operating in an increasingly competitive global market and by using social media, firms canbroaden their existing brand equity while building real relationships with current and potentialclients.”
The majority of business leaders (62%) engaging in social media for business purposes believethat their efforts have been successful, while only 11% are not satisfied with the achieved resultsand around 30% are not sure about the extent of their success.
The top three objectives business leaders want to achieve through social media include raisingmarket interest in a particular product or service, conducting more general forms of marketresearch and developing knowledge-sharing networks within their respective industries.
Despite the awareness about the effectiveness of social media and the growth potential itoffers, most companies still dedicate only a small fraction of their marketing budgets to expandtheir online presence, with 54% spending less than 2% of their budget on social media while nearlyhalf spend less than five hours a week on their online profile.
The two most important obstacles business leaders name for integrating a social media strategyinto their business plan are time shortage and lack of technical know-how. A lack of knowledge ofsocial media was quoted as being the greatest barrier for 36% of the business leaders aged over 50.Around 25% of business owners said the greatest obstacle preventing them from implementing a socialmedia strategy is that the medium does not fit well with their business or industry. Only one inten cited a lack of human resources as the most significant barrier to adopting social media as ameans to promote and grow their business.
