80% of UK CMOs unsure of how to adopt social media

A recent global study has shown chief marketing officers (CMOs) in the UK and Ireland are not dealing with social media and the data explosion as successfully as their counterparts around the globe.

The research, conducted by IBM, found that nearly 100 representatives from the UK and Ireland took part in the global research that polled 1,700 CMOs. Although nearly 80% of UK respondents expect that they are going to play a more important role in the future of their companies, they did admit to not being fully prepared to react in certain areas of business.

The most commonly cited area about which CMOs feel uncertain is the so-called data explosion – a phenomenon that most modern businesses know only too well. As many as 87% of the CMOs in the UK and Ireland say they do not know how to deal with the constantly incoming unstructured data from multiple channels. The presence of too wide a choice of devices and channels comes second, cited by 80% of respondents. In addition, seven in ten CMOs feel unprepared to manage social media for business.

Overall, these areas of concern score a lower percentage globally – just over 70%, 65% and 68% respectively.

The study also found out that CMOs in the UK and Ireland are struggling to cope mainly because they have been relying on more traditional strategies, such as marketing research and direct feedback from consumers and they lack the experience and resources to analyse unprocessed, unstructured data. The most frequently cited reasons for not using more technology was the cost (two in three respondents) and uncertain ROI (65%).

Given that social media is likely to be the predecessor to social commerce, where revenues will be directly linked to community activities, this doesn’t bode well for UK businesses. But it does perhaps present an opportunity for the UK to adopt, innovate and convert market share.