The majority of consumer companies of origin already develop powerful communication and marketing campaigns to increase their visibility on the Internet and reach the current multimedia consumers.
Most companies give importance to the “society of conversation” but only a few implement communication strategies in social media aimed at consumers in each country.
More than 83 million people use the Internet but although most companies have realized the importance of participating in the “conversation society”, only 26 percent of large companies that market consumer products in these markets develop local strategies linked to social media, specifically aimed at consumers in each country. This is one of the conclusions of the study “Consumer brands in web 2.0” prepared by the consultancy, leading firm in business communication.
For the elaboration of this work, 38 large companies were studied, with presence in the five markets, at the end of 2010. On the one hand, the corporate presence of the selected companies was identified in the social networks with the highest audience (Facebook, Tuenti and LinkedIn), as well as in the most popular interaction websites (Twitter, YouTube, Flickr), in the on-line collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia and in the blogosphere. The last campaigns of each company in each of the markets under study were also located.
Some of the conclusions of the study are:
- The Anglo-Saxon countries are positioned as undisputed leaders in the global use of web 2.0. In fact, more and more companies have exclusive departments to manage their brand image on the Net and trace specific actions on social networks and the blogosphere.
- On the other side of the scale, there are Portuguese and Latin American companies that “speak little” and most of them only “in their language”, squandering the Network’s potential to communicate with customers in the other countries in which they market their products.
- As for consumer companies of origin, most of them already develop powerful communication and marketing campaigns to increase their visibility on the Internet and reach the current multimedia consumers.
- Facebook and Twitter are the favorite channels of consumer brands to present their news, campaigns and products. And there are more and more consumer companies that use Twitter as a customer service channel.
- Some of the most reputable brands among consumers, which generate emotional links with their customers, have even opted for their own platforms such as Apple’s iTunes social network (Ping) or Microsoft’s “online” communities.
In summary, the study shows that web 2.0 favors the interrelation of brands with consumers and offers the possibility of presenting new products and advertising campaigns in real time. Finally, the “viral” effect of social networks and the blogosphere has a direct impact on the reputation of companies and, in many cases, on their income accounts.