Also, 63% say that social media is an effective channel for creating sales opportunities, but only 3 in 10 companies use social media for sales.

„The Like & Share survey is part of the series of researches I have carried out in the recent years on this topic. It is a perception survey on the role of social media marketing in Romanian companies. Even though the analysis angles have diversified over time, correlated with social media dynamics, the key questions remain. From this study, one can find out information about the most used platforms, the proportion of companies that have a social media marketing strategy, for how long companies have been using social media, how often, what are the benefits and budgets of this specific type of marketing, or the role the social media in the sales process”, says Elena Badea, Managing Partner Valoria, co-author of the survey.

Social media platforms

Social media is already part of the standard marketing mix. If four years ago, 22% of companies were asking themselves whether to include social media in their marketing plan, now only 5% still have a certain amount of resistance to this approach. Specifically, 87% of Romanian companies say they use social networks in marketing, and 8% say they will start using them in the next period.

The most used social media marketing platforms in Romania are: Facebook - 96%, LinkedIn - 70%, Youtube - 44%. According to a Social Media Examiner report, the top three places at the global lever are helb by: Facebook - 93%, Twitter - 76% and LinedIn - 67%. It is worth noting that both Facebook and LinkedIn have higher percentages of use in Romanian companies than globally.

The most used platforms by Romanian companies for sponsored ads are the following ones: Facebook - 81%, Google - 50% and LinkedIn - 14%. The Social Media Examiner report shows that the top three places are occupied at the global level by: Facebook - 87%, Google - 39% and Twiter - 18%, followed by LinkedIn with 17%.

The strategic approach in social media marketing

Only 25% of respondents say they have a social media marketing strategy at the company level, 51% say they have such a strategy at the marketing team level and 4% have a social media marketing strategy only at the level of the commercial team. Still, 2 out of 10 companies have no strategy for social media marketing in Romania.

According to the survey results, most companies use social media marketing in Romania for 2-3 years (25%), but at the global level, the highest percentage is that of companies that use social media marketing for over 5 years (21%). Companies that use social media marketing for less than a year are 15% in Romania and 20% globally.

Budgets and activities of social media marketing

37% of Romanian companies invested less than 1,000 euros in social networking in the last year, 25% invested between 1,000 and 3,000 euros, 11% invested between 3,000 and 5,000 euros, while 9% Invested between 5,000 and 10,000 euros for the same move. Only 13% of respondents said they have invested more than 10,000 euros in promoting their social media companies over the past year.

Most companies (82%) provide to followers content about products and services, 66% give information about the company, and 58% have content about campaigns, promotions, direct or indirect sales. Job offers appear on social media to just 41% of companies. Globally, 41% of companies measure return on social media investment, compared with 59% in Romania.

Time allocated and frequency of social media posts

The weekly time spent to promote the company in social media shows that both in Romania (59%) and globally (36%), most companies allocate maximum 1-5 hours for this activity. However, globally 21% of companies allocate 11-20 hours, while in Romania only 7% allocate this time budget, this being the second most important difference between the two analysis.

Research results show that 37% of Romanian companies have daily posts on social media channels, 31% every 2-3 days, and 27% have a weekly posting. Correlated with these results, we know that there is still a major challenge in companies related to the ability to generate content for social media, which has led to a 12% drop in the percentage of companies with daily posts over the past three years.

Benefits of social media marketing

If at the global level the three main social marketing benefits are: increasing the company's reputation - 90%, increasing market exposure - 89% and customer loyalty, in Romania the first two places are held by the same categories, with 84% and 57% respectively, but on third place we find the selling opportunities with 50%. The biggest discrepancy is the fact that globally 66% of companies have the benefit of generating a market outlook with social media, but in Romania only 19% of companies have this capacity.

 „With social media becoming the most important source of information, this research shows how companies are addressing marketing in this environment and with what results. Company information has evolved from simple images with the company logo and text messages to what we currently see as a 360° video messages, live streams, and a more dynamic visual content (augmented reality). As information is consumed more and more through news feeds in social media, it is important to look at how company marketing and communication evolve in this environment. The Like & Share study provides the snapshot that we need to know where we are going”, says Constantin Magdalina, Emerging Trends and Technologies Expert, co-author of this research.