LONDON: Two out of three FTSE 100 companies are at a competitive disadvantage because they are failing to engage effectively with social networks, according to new research.
A report entitled Social Media in the City, based on research by social media consultancy Sociagility, found that two-thirds of FTSE 100 companies perform below average on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
The research was conducted in November this year in association with UK industry trade body the PRCA. Performance scores were derived for each social network based on more than 50 metrics and combined to create a Social Performance Index.
Shell, AstraZeneca, and UK supermarket chain Sainsbury led the rankings of best-performing companies. While the top 20 also included non-consumer-facing brands such as mining firm Vedanta, chip manufacturer ARM Holdings, and BAE Systems. Only one bank, Barclays, makes the top 20.
The highest-performing FTSE sector was pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, followed by retail.
Co-author of the report and Sociagility principal, Tony Burgess-Webb, said: "Social media are playing an increasingly important part in the daily struggle for stakeholders' confidence and support.
"How well a company engages is therefore a competitive issue internationally – both as a risk to be managed and an opportunity to gain advantage. This is as important for the C-suite as it is for corporate comms professionals."
Burgess-Webb also suggested there is a "significant correlation" between the Social Performance Index score and market capitalisation.
Sociagility found that the insurance sector scored well below the FTSE 100 average and only one of its constituents, Aviva, even makes the top 30 of the index.
A version of this article originally appeared on the website of PRWeek UK, the sister publication of PRWeek at Haymarket Media.
