Spain is the European Leader in Smartphone Use and More Great Digital Trend Data

ComScore's new report, "Spain, Digital Future in Focus 2013", provides some great insights into the Spanish digital market that are quite interesting.

Below are some of the highlights; you can find the full document in Spanish on Comscore's Website.

• More and more content consumed on various devices – mobile has become a very popular way to view content
• Spain is the European leader in Smartphone use with 66% market penetration (followed by the UK with 64% and Italy and France with 53%)
• The number of consumers with a smartphone or tablet has increased 70% in one year
• Tablet use has increased 11% in one year, with over 4 million users
• Social media usage on PC decreased, while access via mobile increased 45%
• Consumers now experiment with buying via mobile – 10% for purchases and 16% to compare products. Apple is the most popular smartphone with which to do so.
• Europeans spend 26.9 hours online per month
• Over 35% of mobile users in Spain are under 35 years old
• 17 million Spaniards use their computer to access the internet per day, a 9% increase over last year
• Online audience:
• Most users between 25-44 years old
• Ages 15-24 and 45-54 same number of users; over 45 is the age group that most grew versus the previous year
• 52% male / 48% female
• Google is the most popular operating system by far with nearly 60% of market share
• Online categories with most growth are Women’s Magazines and Automotive
• Video from PC only increased 0.6% but watching video via mobile increased 164% over the past year. Google leads the sites by far.
• Most online display impressions dominated by Proctor & Gamble with 202 million, Carlsberg with 45 million, L’Oreal with 36 million
• Most impressions come from Social Networks (31%) followed by News (14%)

Why don't more B2B companies use social media?

Dipping a toe into social media is often a difficult decision for companies in the business to business (B2B) space. Concerns about ROI, coupled with a complex decision-making process, and competing views on the use and value of social engagement, can grind even the most motivated marketer’s social media strategy to a halt before the first tweet is tweeted.

Whirlpool Galaxy
(Smithsonian Institution, Flickr)

I’ve spent a number of years working in social media for large B2B companies. I have seen that while there are always employees who understand the potential benefit of engaging in social media and have the desire to do so, most companies find it difficult to make the definitive decision to move forward into uncharted territory. The inaction is driven by fear of the unknown.

Some of the main reasons a company chooses to forego an active and robust social presence follow:

• Accountability concerns - ownership of the message and accounts
• Perceived lack of content
• Concerns over how customer service will be handled
• Competing objectives between divisions, regions and/or departments
• Low understanding of social media
• Not knowing how to track ROI

The above concerns are valid and should be addressed in the social media strategy before engagement begins. Appropriately addressing such important areas before launching can be determining factors to success - both in securing internal buy-in and in benefitting from social media.

Choosing to stay out of the conversation means the conversation will go on without you.

What would you add to the list above?