Social media can be a mystery to the C-suite, with brands still being afraid to make mistakes on social reckons Hootsuite's global CMO, Penny Wilson.
Wilson believes that is changing however, with aggregators such as Hootsuite now having technology which helps brands dispel that “fear factor”.
Speaking with AdNews, Wilson says despite this tech, other hurdles stand in the way of the C-suite really understanding these platforms.
“Social is still a mystery because they're afraid of making mistakes in social,” she says.
“There's also generational issues, where many [members of the C-suite] are not using the social technology as much as people who are younger than them. But there’s also the recognition about changing the experience and getting close to that customer journey and understanding their customers and hearing from their customers,” she added.
Because social is still not reaching the upper echelons of businesses, Hootsuite itself is looking to change within its own business, with the brand aiming to show the power that social media has for brands. To do this, its undergoing a shift from purely being a marketing and communications business to one that has multiple touch points within an organisation.
Wilson explained that regardless of sector, all consumers are now wanting different more instantaneous interactions with brands and social can help deliver that.
“Whether you're a global brand, a government or an educational institution, consumers, students, constituents, they are all expecting a different type of interaction with a brand.
“We're trying to align our solution offering to that paradigm – so a company can easily apply that across their entire organisation,” she added.
There have been several comments in market about the value that social can deliver, with commentators like Mark Ritson believing that brands are ploughing money into channels that don't deliver.
When asked about this, Wilson says: “I don’t know if there's truth in that statement.
“As a marketing organisation we build a lot of rigour around it – I started out my career as a data scientist so I feel like I’m in heaven.
“I think we have more tools than ever before to really measure our value, measure any of the programs that we run, measure our customer experience. Marketing has been transformed by our ability to measure,” she added.
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