Facebook Inc usage amongst B2B companies soars, but only 31% use it to engage.

UK technology companies are missing out on the potential of social media networks such as Facebook Inc and Twitter by not being social and failing to use these new channels to engage with their audiences, according to new research.

According a report from tech PR agency EML Wildfire, despite a huge increase in the number of tech companies using social channels, only 31% of brands with a Facebook account used it to engage with users and, of those that used Twitter, only 14% of tweets were replies and retweets.

When it came to the companies that had a blog, only 20% received comments and only one company took the trouble to reply to comments received.

Rising popularity

One of the most interesting findings this year was that the use of Facebook amongst B2B companies had skyrocketed in the last 12 months with 70% of B2B companies on the platform compared to just 40% previously.

Overall, Linkedin was still the most popular network used (92%), followed by Twitter (80%). YouTube remained the least popular for the second year running (44%).

Failings in social network usage

Despite the increase in adoption, most companies were still only using these channels for ‘push’ marketing techniques with 65% of companies with a Facebook page using it for one way communications and 96% of blogs simply broadcasting article and news content without inviting responses.

Tech companies were also still failing to effectively integrate social media channels with their website. Only 58% of companies in the study had social media links on their homepage despite over 90% of companies having at least one social media site. Half of companies linked Twitter from their homepage, but only 14% linked to a YouTube page or blog.

'Old media' mindsets

Debby Penton, Director at EML Wildfire said: "The vast majority of businesses we speak to now accept that social media is something they should be doing. But we are still seeing confusion about how to approach these new channels and get the best out of them. It is therefore no surprise to see even some of the UK’s most successful tech businesses still struggling to adjust and approaching the situation with ‘old media’ mindsets.

"Social media gives companies a unique opportunity to reach their audience directly. But without the right strategy in place and the skills required to execute, brands could actually risk damaging their online reputation rather than harnessing the positive commercial impact that social media should and can deliver."