Click, like, share: advertising professionals' social media habits

As a society, the way we communicate with one another has shifted – interacting via social media is not only prevalent within our personal lives, but is an integral part of our professional lives too.

Positive internal communication in the work place can play a key role improving productivity – it has the ability to encourage collaboration, aid project management, and streamline workflow. As such, we at GlobalWebIndex, on behalf of the IPA, decided to run a poll to assess the lay of the land in the advertising industry.

What are the social media habits of advertising and marketing industry professionals and how are internal comms and social media platforms shaping their behaviour at work?

Our research shows that while just over 60% of advertising and marketing professionals still prefer to use email over internal comms platforms, a significant 40% of advertising and marketing professionals now prefer internal comms platforms – a trend we wouldn’t have seen as recently as a couple of years ago.

This 40% say their preference is down to internal comms platforms making their work more interactive, efficient, and that they allow for easy file sharing with colleagues. Top platforms cited include those with real-time communication or screen-share capabilities rather than passive sharing, with two thirds of our respondents stating that they use Skype for Business at work.

In addition to using internal comms platforms, the data shows that Adlanders are turning to their personal social media accounts to enhance their work experience. In general, they are most interested in doing this for networking purposes (48%) or to promote campaign material (41%). Despite being the most likely group to use LinkedIn professionally (45%), we find that work-related material is most often shared on Facebook (53%) to increase reach to family and friends, in addition to their work peers. Of those who are actively posting content, two fifths say they are likely to do so to endorse their company or the success of a campaign.

So, do we think this trend will continue? The implication is that it will, given 65% of Gen X and 55% of Millennials agree that social media literacy will be fundamental for future job success and overall half feel that social media will increasingly aid their personal development in the workplace.

As the data reveals, not only may social media platforms allow for greater flexibility and employee development, but they can also improve working environments and efficiency. As such, it seems that investing in and integrating the right internal comms and social media platforms into work processes is becoming more important than ever for organisations.

View the full findings in our infographic.

Jayne Pickard is a Research Analyst at GlobalWebIndex, a tech company that provides the world's largest study on the digital consumer.