| Research released this week by business-to-business strategic PR firm BlissPR (www.blisspr.com/) found that most management consulting firms make it challenging for clients and prospects to identify and directly engage with their thought leaders via social media. The findings of the Social Media Landscape for Consulting Firms Study — along with how consulting firms can develop an effective social media strategy — were presented to members of the Association of Management Consulting Firms (AMCF) by Elizabeth Sosnow, managing director at BlissPR.
The study benchmarked how 46 different management consulting firms currently approach social media engagement. BlissPR found almost all firms — across sectors and sizes — already have "content rich" websites. However, while most firms organized their thoughts in a logical manner, they don't actively champion their thought leaders. In fact, nearly 30% of their websites failed to clearly identify any thought leaders at all.
"Unlike many B2B companies, consulting firms are well positioned to succeed with social media initiatives since they already know how to build content," said Sosnow, who is co-author of the study. "But if their content doesn't 'stick' to the personal brands of their consultants, it's ultimately a marketing failure. Social media is fueled by people who can engage communities. White papers are not great conversationalists."
Further findings of the study:
- Blog Abandonment Syndrome: Only 15% of consulting firms studied had one or more blogs.
- Social Media Reinforcement: 41% were experimenting with multimedia tools such as podcasts and vodcasts to reinforce thought leadership. The larger the firm, the more likely the experiment.
- Experience with Social Media "Outposts": Most firms have very limited experience with social media outposts such as Twitter (26%), YouTube (35%) and Slideshare (13%). The largest strategy firms were much more likely to use those tools, but only as "news blasters" for company information.
"The good news? Consultants who are willing to pursue a genuine engagement strategy have an immediate opportunity to leapfrog their competitors in social media," said Sosnow. "But they'll have to stop and listen first. The dialogue is already going on — they just haven't been a part of it."
BlissPR evaluated the social media landscape for 46 consulting firms across a variety of sizes and sectors, Strategy, Human Resources, Healthcare, Operations and Information Technology. To determine firms' state of readiness to engage with stakeholders through social media — as well as the extent to which firms have integrated social media strategy into operations to date — they performed a corporate website audit.
The survey results, as well as a list of best practices for consulting firms to get started in social media, can be found at www.blisspr.com. |
