Social Media Use by Australia’s Best Brands

Sydney, Australia November 2009

Methodology – Research Objectives

• The analysis looked to identify how top Australian companies are using key social media platforms to communicate and engage directly with stakeholders, specifically:

– Twitter: The study tallied official Twitter accounts for Australia’s Best Brands.

– Facebook: The study identified and analysed official corporate presence of Australia’s Best Brands on Facebook. The study examined corporate pages, but not third party groups and fan pages.

– Blogs: The study examined whether and how Australia’s Best Brands are using branded corporate blogs to communicate and engage with stakeholders.

• The analysis does not include independent subsidiary brands that do not share a name with the parent company.

• The study builds on Social Media Use by Fortune 100 Companies, published by Proof Digital Media and Burson-Marsteller in July 2009.

• This study is the first part in a two part research project. Part two will focus on corporate websites and newsrooms.

• The study examined the top 20 brands as listed in Interbrand’s Australia’s Best Brands Report, March 2009.

• The study ranks the top 20 Australian companies by brand value, which is a derivative of the way business and financial assets are valued covering three elements: Financial Forecasting; Role of Branding; Brand Strength.

• Financial assessments are based on published annual reports and analyst reports from investment banks. Marketing assessments are based on a wide array of primary and secondary sources. Ultimately, each brand was assessed for inclusion on its own merits.

• Holding companies are excluded from the Interbrand report. Wholly owned or local subsidiaries of global brands are also excluded.

• Interbrand has published national brand value rankings more than ten countries around the world.

• There is no formal relationship between Burson-Marsteller and Interbrand. Interbrand were not involved in the development of this study but are aware of its existence.

Methodology – Source Companies

Social Media Use – Multiple Channels

Percent of Australia’s Best Brands active on Twitter,

Facebook and their Corporate Blog

Australia’s top companies are still experimenting with social media for stakeholder communication, mostly limiting activity to a single social media channel.

Few companies are yet using top social media platforms in a strategic, or integrated manner across multiple channels.

Social Media - Use By Channel

Percent of Australia’s Best Brands using

each social media channelFacebook and Twitter are the preferred social media channels for online stakeholder communication.

However, many corporate Facebook and Twitter accounts are inactive, suggesting companies are trying to decide how best to use them.

Corporate blogs are used by only 4 of Australia’s top 20 companies.

Industry Analysis – Financial Services

Percent of Australia’s Top Financial Services

Brands using each social media channel

Australia’s top Financial Services companies prefer to use Twitter for stakeholder online communication and engagement.

A relatively high percentage of Financial Services companies are not using any social media platforms.

Industry Analysis – Retail

Percent of Australia’s Top Retail Brands

using each social media channel

Top Australian retailers are more active than their financial services counterparts in using social media.

Australia’s top retail brands prefer to use Facebook to communicate online with and engage stakeholders.

Industry Analysis - Global Comparison

How Australia’s Best Brands compare to the Fortune 100

in their use of social media channels

Australian companies are using Facebook to a greater extend than their Fortune 100 counterparts.

However, they are lagging Fortune 100 in use of Twitter and blogs.

Notes:1 / for the purposes of this study, Fortune 100 Commercial Banking and Insurance are bundled under a general ‘Financial Services’ category

2 / Fortune 100 General Merchandiser, Specialty Retailer and Food and Drug Stores categories are bundled as ‘Retail’

Breakdown by industry

Financial Services Retail

Aus Top 20 Fortune 100 1

Aus Top 20 Fortune 100 2

Percentage on Twitter

38% 42% 63% 79%

Percentage on Facebook

25% 8% 75% 50%

Percentage with a blog

13% 17% 25% 36%

Twitter

Twitter – Corporate Use in Australia

% of Australian Best Brands with Twitter accounts

40% of top Australian companies have at least one Twitter account

In total there are 18 Twitter accounts, of which, 8 are inactive.

However, numbers of followers remains low, with a median of 193 rising to 8,000+ for Billabong

In addition to corporate use, a number of companies are using Twitter locally and to promote sub-brands e.g. Westpac.

Twitter – Functional Use

Main uses of Twitter by Australian Best Brands

Twitter is being used primarily to support and extend existing customer service functions, and to provide answers to questions about services or products.

Twitter is also widely used as a sales tool, with companies offering promotions, discounts, contests and sweepstakes.

Companies in Australia also use Twitter to communicate company and/or product news.

Twitter – Customer Service Examples

Telstra uses its @telstra Twitter account to monitor and respond to customer enquiries and help resolve complaints. The company answers an average 10 enquiries/complaints per day.

Twitter – Customer Service Examples

By talking about surfing, sea pollution and other topics important to its stakeholders, Billabong uses Twitter primarily to strengthen relationships. New product ranges and offers are also subtly promoted (see below)

See @billabong1973

Twitter – Promotional Examples

Harvey Norman uses Twitter to communicate latest deals, discounts and offers. It also uses the channel to answer customer enquiries and to list employment opportunities

See @harveynormanau

Telstra uses Twitter to communicate business activities & offers. See @TelstraBusCntr

Facebook

Facebook – Corporate Use in Australia

% of Australian Best Brands with official Facebook

accounts

50% of leading Australian companies are using Facebook for stakeholder communications.

However, 15% of these accounts are inactive, suggesting companies are unclear how best to use this channel.

Many companies also have a semi-official presence on Facebook in the form of a Group, often geared to facilitating employee and alumni networking.

Facebook – Corporate Use in AustraliaTelstra cross promotes its social media profiles and links to third party content.

The company clearly re-directs customers to relevant customer service channels. The company is responsive and invites conversation.

Clear identification of the individuals behind the Page leads to genuine interactions on a wide range of issues, including Telstra services and news announcements.

Corporate Blog

Corporate Blog – Use in Australia

% of Australian Best Brands with a corporate blog

An overwhelming majority of top Australian companies are not using blogs for corporate or company brand-related communication.

Of those companies that are using blogs, it is notable that levels of interaction and feedback tend to be low.

Corporate Blog – Best Practice Examples

Billabong uses its blog to

communicate with stakeholders

on a range of topics, notably surf,

ski and skate events, competitions

and teams.

The company proactively encourages

user participation on the channel (see

opposite)

http://www.billabong.com/au/blog

Corporate Blog – Best Practice Examples

Woolworths is also asking its customers to share and rank ideas on how to improve products and services.

https://www.everydaymatters.com.au/ideas/

As an extension of its Everyday Rewards loyalty programme, Woolworths employ a blog to communicate and engage members and facilitate feedback.

https://www.everydaymatters.com.au/blogs

Conclusions and takeaways

1. The survey provides an insightful snapshot into the use of social media by the top Australian brand name companies.

2. The majority of the companies surveyed are failing to take an integrated or strategic view of social media.

3. Australia’s leading brands are neglecting the opportunity to engage with stakeholders via Facebook, the most widely used social network in Australia.

4. Corporate blogs are yet to gain traction in Australia. Corporate Australia lags the US and UK in this regard.

5. Brand value does not necessarily denote best practice in social media, despite research linking customer engagement via social media and corporate financial performance.

Contacts

Daniel Young, DirectorBurson-Marsteller Australia+61 (0) 2 9928 1589 +61 (0) 404 626 584 daniel.young@bm.com

Carly Yanco, AssociateBurson-Marsteller Australia+61 (0) 2 9928 1531+61 (0) 413 648 396carly.yanco@bm.com