Social Media in the Facilities Management Sector

Transcription

1 MAGENTA 2EDITION RESEARCH Social Media in the Facilities Sector PAPER NOVEMBER 75

2 Social Media in the Facilities Sector contents M R P2 About the authors 4 Introduction 6 Methodology 10 Research results 11 Content 15 Conclusions and recommendations 22 Appendices 24 MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

3 Executive summary This second edition of Magenta s annual research explores how organisations in the facilities management sector use social media. Facilities management is still an emerging market, with a relatively poor track record in marketing and communications. FM providers are not using social media in a strategic way to build relationships with stakeholders. The picture is generally one of ad hoc and inconsistent use, although a few companies are exploiting social media more effectively. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the three most used social media channels with 84 per cent of the top FM providers having a LinkedIn page and 73 per cent an official Twitter account. Signposting is frequently poor - although many companies have decided that a social media presence is important, just half of the top providers give these channels prominence on their websites, with many hiding details on contact pages. Companies run the risk that users will find non-official, and often highlycritical, content online before reaching official sites and feeds. FM providers need to rationalise their social media presence and branding to ensure they reach and retain the interest of their target audiences. International companies have a particular challenge in adapting their use of social media to engage with local audiences. Magenta logged activity on two of the most-used social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, over a week for 22 of the top FM providers. A total of 321 tweets (up on last year s 285) were sent but six companies did not post at all and just eight tweeted every day. The picture was similar for Facebook, although with a much lower level of activity. Company news accounted for a fifth of Twitter activity and responses to topical events another fifth. Just 7 per cent of tweets concerned queries and complaints. Companies did not generally share industry information via social media. Although best practice advice is to present a human face to your organisation by getting individuals to use social media, especially Twitter, few FM providers do this, with some notable exceptions including Mitie, Sodexo, ISS and Emprise. Comparing social media performance across a diverse market and different platforms is difficult but Magenta combined a number of measures with a subjective assessment to select the ten top social media performers in the FM sector. (1) Sodexo (2) Carillion Support Services (3) Mitie Group (4) Kier Services (5) ISS Facility Services (6) Serco (7) Johnson Controls GWS (8) Interserve (9) Compass (10) Amey Despite the achievements of these and others, the most striking observation is the lack of commitment and resources allocated to social media. Magenta s primary recommendations are: cc cc cc Write a social media strategy covering goals, management, resources and measurement Integrate social media with your brand and marketing strategies Listen as much as you talk and don t use social media only to talk about your business If FM providers follow these and the other recommendations in this report, they can exploit the power of social media to enhance their profile; cement their relationships with customers and employees; and gain invaluable feedback on their products and services. 02/03

4 Social Media in the Facilities Sector About the authors Cathy is managing director of Magenta Associates, the communications agency for the facilities management and support services sector. Her consulting activities have included an internal communications project for the facilities management department of a global retailer; research assignments for individual service providers and in-house FM teams; traditional PR and marketing assignments for a variety of organisations; together with design and production of sales and marketing brochures and brand guidelines. In her professional capacity, she is a member of both the BIFM and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, deputy chairman of the BIFM London region and a judge for the BIFM Awards. She has also been involved on the programme committee for World Workplace, the annual conference for the International Facility Association and, in 2011, was recognised by FMX magazine as one of the 40 under 40 Ones to Watch in FM. In addition to a first degree in English with History from Queen Mary s, University of London, she holds a Master s degree in journalism and the CIPR s Post-Graduate Diploma in public relations for which she was awarded a distinction. MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

5 Richard is research director at Magenta and has over 30 years experience across a range of media and professional organisations in both senior editorial and management roles. His experience and interests centre on design, the workplace, facilities management, public policy, planning, architecture, sustainability and communications. Following roles with architects and planners DEGW, editorships at PFM magazine and i-fm.net, he joined the British Institute of Facilities (BIFM) as head of communications and external affairs in In 2007 he joined the board and masterminded the institute s new corporate identity, adopted in As director of corporate and public affairs, he focused on raising the profile of FM with government and business through consultation, direct representation and joint working with industry and professional bodies. He started working with Magenta in. Acknowledgements: Magenta acknowledges the assistance of Workplace Law, i-fm.net and Greenwoods Solicitors James handles PR activities for a range of clients and helps to shape Magenta s social media services. He is a CIM-qualified marketing, PR and sport journalism specialist. Starting his working life as a sports journalist for market-leading cycling magazine MBUK, he then moved into the world of marketing and PR, working across both B2B and B2C environments for a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, charities and sport. Over the years he has handled an array of roles, from heading up multinational advertising and PR campaigns, through to Olympic test event media manager. With the growth of digital marketing he has championed the use of social media, creating integrated strategies and running social media channels for national and international organisations. 04/05

6 Social Media in the Facilities Sector 1 To suggest further ideas for areas the research could cover, please Cathy Hayward at cathy. [email protected] Introduction This research explores how organisations in the facilities management sector are using social media and how the overall approach compares with best practice advice and research. It includes recommendations for best practice in the use of social media. Great claims are made for the impact of social media on personal and business communications and although there is some hype, the phenomenon cannot be ignored. Just look at the numbers: cc cc cc cc cc Every second two new members join LinkedIn 53 per cent of people on Twitter recommend products in their Tweets YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, with 100 million videos 80 per cent of companies use LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees If Facebook were a country it would be the world s third largest with twice the size of the U.S. population Welcome to the second annual report from Magenta on the use of social media in the facilities management sector. The first report was researched in October and presented at the ThinkFM conference in June. The main social media channels used today were created over just three years. LinkedIn launched in 2003, followed by Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005) and Twitter (2006). So it s not surprising that business has been playing catch-up, trying to understand and then exploit the new opportunities to engage with stakeholders. However, it s clear that companies in many sectors are using social media very effectively to build and grow their businesses. Facilities management is still an emerging market with a relatively poor track record in marketing and communications. Social media is a challenge for companies still working out how to describe themselves and what they want to say. Effective use of social media requires a different approach but companies shouldn t lose sight of communication and marketing basics, including simple messaging, brand consistency and knowing your audience. If FM providers keep these in sight, they can exploit the power of social media to enhance their profile; cement their relationships with customers and employees; and gain invaluable feedback on their products and services. Best practice social media Best practice for effective use of social media covers six key areas: From publication to conversation Typically organisations communicated with their stakeholders by publishing information through their website, annual report, press releases, press interviews etc. They rarely listened to feedback from outside MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

7 D AA T SOCIAL MEDIA IN NUMBERS If Facebook were a country it would be the world s third largest and twice the size of the US population P 80+2+P 53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their Tweets. 80% of companies use LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, with 100 million videos. the organisation. Even heavilyorchestrated AGMs were designed to exclude external views. Customer service departments were designed to close down complaints and silence people. Social media has changed all that. It allows a two-way dialogue between an organisation and its stakeholders. Content Social media is a new form of communication, a shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to many model, rooted in a conversational format between authors and their peers. But according to Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge, authors of Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, it can be underestimated and many organisations continue to apply the same old-school approach of marketing at people instead of engaging in conversations that will enhance the brand and customer relationships. But the challenge for B2B organisations is that people relate to people rather than companies. So how can a company appear more human? Simon Sanders, joint author of Share This, argues that this is about organisations reducing the distance with their audience, perhaps showing yourself to be open, reliable, responsive, friendly or engaging. He recommends collecting and reflecting stories about how your customers use your products or services to humanise you. B2B communicators frequently post the wrong sort of content: typically text comments rather than photos or videos. Facebook post types are roughly: status 73 per cent, photo 10 06/07

8 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Dan Zarrella, leading social media expert and author of The Social Media Marketing Book. per cent, links 9 per cent and video 8 per cent. But research by specialist agency Headstream revealed that links, followed by photos, videos and lastly status generates the most likes; photos, videos, followed by links and status generates the most comments; and video, photos, likes and lastly status generated the most shares. If organisations want more people to share material and comment on it, they need to post fewer statuses and more video, photos and links. Timing Social media success for the B2B pro often boils down to timing. In The Social Media Marketing Book Dan Zarrella says: If you want to build Twitter followers tweet a lot, around 20 times a day. But if you want to drive traffic don t tweet so much, but tweet the same link several times as different groups of people will see it throughout the day. If you want to build Twitter followers tweet a lot, around 20 times a day. Zarrella tweeted the same link nine times and the click through rate was consistent each time. He argues that retweeting activity is the greatest later in the day, between 2pm and 5pm (the best time being 4pm) concluding that if organisations want links retweeted, the afternoon is the best time. Later in the week is better than earlier in the week and Twitter click-throughs peak on the weekend. Facebook activity is much, much lower than Twitter during the working week as many organisations ban the tool while s are best sent between 4am and 7am so they get to users before they start their working day. The conclusion for communication professionals in the facilities management sector should be early, tweet late and don t forget the weekends. Audience Although social media is generally seen as an opportunity for organisations to engage directly with their stakeholders, without the need for an intermediary, it is also an opportunity to get closer to journalists. At a time when the long lunch is a thing of the past for most reporters, social media provides a way for savvy PR people to have regular, meaningful interactions with this group of opinion formers. Even better they allow us to build relationships outside of the high pressure timeframe of a sellin or crisis, says Helen Nowicka in Share This. Simply follow journalists on Twitter, retweet and interact to understand what makes them tick professionally and personally, and how they like to work. There are numerous ways to build up a following on social media, the key one being creating interesting content. Putting your social media links prominently on your organisation s website is essential and organisations should consider incentivising existing fans and followers to share material. The key to building up a solid audience of potential customers is by finding them on social media and following or befriending them. Most will usually follow you back if they see your organisation as relevant. Identify industry leaders, commentators and influencers. Follow, retweet and engage them through social media channels. Searching for key words (such as #facilitiesmanagement) and joining discussions is also useful. But organisations must consider the follow-to-followers ratio. This measures a Twitter account s ratio between the number of people who follow you compared to the number of people you follow. In Twitter Marketing For Dummies Kyle Lacy recommends MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

9 D AA T EVALUATING CAMPAIGNS Writing in Share This, Jane Wilson recommends that social media, and 1specifically 2Facebook, 3 campaigns be evaluated by looking at: Conversation triggers; the Conversations created: the number of status updates, comments, photos and so on that the organisation will post to the page to generate conversations number of fans of the page and the number of likes, comments and posts from those fans Conversation outcomes: this measure is tied back to a business objective or marketing objective and could be anything from increased sales to reduced customer complaints, depending on the aims of the page and how it fits into the overall marketing strategy Measurement and evaluation Measurement, evaluation and return on investment are a major bone of contention within the PR, marketing and advertising industries. According to Lacy, One of the great things about social media is that it lets the marketer measure the effectiveness of campaigns and messages, and even find out who s talking about you and what they re saying. The key to measuring success is setting goals in the first place, says Sanders: The measurement must then be whether you have met those goals. If awareness was the key goal, you might look to show increased brand mentions in social media, a greater share of the online voice etc. If sales was the goal, your website traffic data might help you to attribute a rise in visits, a reduction in paid search costs etc. Writing in Share This, Jane Wilson recommends that social media, and specifically Facebook, campaigns be evaluated by looking at: a ratio of around 1.0 (or 1.1) which means that an organisation is listening as much as it is being listened to. Organisations that have considerably more followers than they are following, are not listening closely enough to their stakeholders and are treating social media as a publishing, rather than conversational, tool. Maintenance Social media has become the latest public relations buzzword and organisations are quick to create a social media presence across a range of channels, spend a few weeks attracting an audience before realising the maintenance of these accounts takes time and resource. Many organisations don t appreciate that although the channels themselves are free, you ll be paying yourself or someone else for the time they spend uploading things, typing facts into it, working out the social media promotions, says Guy Clapperton in This is social media: tweet, blog, link and post your way to business success. It needs to be budgeted, he urges, especially around content generation and monitoring. Maintaining the initial enthusiasm for social media is half the battle 9 per cent of Twitter accounts are inactive and many people give up after a few weeks saying it didn t work for them. The account remains active but unmonitored, a deadly combination. Conversation triggers; the number of status updates, comments, photos and so on that the organisation will post to the page to generate conversations. Conversations created: the number of fans of the page and the number of likes, comments and posts from those fans. Conversation outcomes: this measure is tied back to a business objective or marketing objective and could be anything from increased sales to reduced customer complaints, depending on the aims of the page and how it fits into the overall marketing strategy. SECTION 2 08/09

10 Social Media in the Facilities Sector 2Methodology The UK facilities management sector is extraordinarily diverse, with estimates of its total value ranging from 40bn to more than 100bn, depending on the definitions used. According to Asset Skills the sector employs almost 209,000 people across the UK. The sector includes in-house facilities management teams, service providers, product suppliers and consultants, along with trade and professional bodies such as the British Institute of Facilities, Facilities Association, Business Services Association and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. It was not possible to analyse the social media output of all these organisations so this research focuses on the use of social media by the top FM service providers as listed by facilities management research and information provider i-fm.net. FM providers on i-fm s Top 50 listing have sales ranging from 9 million to over 2.5 billion with PR and marketing teams using social media, as well as individual managers and members of staff. The first step in the research was to explore the social media channels used by each company using their websites as a starting point. Where their social media channels weren t displayed (see below), a search was made of the most popular social media outlets LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and if the companies used other social media outlets such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Google+ etc, this was recorded. See Appendix A (page 24). accounts, and commentary (Appendix C, page 30); for LinkedIn the information recorded was whether it was a static or active page and the number of followers (Appendix D, page 35); and for YouTube the research looked at the address and the number of YouTube hits to date (Appendix E, page 37). So few companies used Flickr that the decision was taken not to investigate this further. A surprising number of companies do not list their social media tools prominently on their websites this information is shown in Appendix F, page 40. To gain a real insight into the social media activity of the major FM providers Magenta tracked the postings and interaction on Twitter and Facebook of the top 22 service providers over a full week (14th 20th October ) see results below and Appendices G and H (pages 42-43). Magenta also asked marketing and communication managers at the top 50 FM service providers about their use of social media. Their responses feature throughout this report. This research, using primary evidence, paints a qualitative and quantitative picture of the use of social media by the top FM companies. Further detail about how each social media outlet was used was then recorded. Details for Facebook included the Facebook address, number of likes and commentary (see Appendix B, page 26); details for Twitter included the handle for the main Twitter account, the number of followers, other Twitter SECTION 3 MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

11 The overall picture of social media use by the top FM providers is sporadic and unfocused. Although most of the companies have set up accounts and feeds for the main social media channels, with some notable exceptions they do not appear to have a strategy. 3research results A few companies have left Facebook pages and Twitter feeds dormant, several have not posted for months, many others use them infrequently. Almost worse than not having a social media presence is to create one and then neglect it, leaving stakeholder comments and queries unanswered. Social media have clearly been seen by some companies as an experiment but too many have not followed through by either terminating their presence or putting it on a sustainable footing, with planning and resources. Social media presence i LinkedIn LinkedIn is by far the most popular social media channel for facilities management organisations with 84 per cent of i-fm.net s top 50 service providers having a page, down slightly from 90 per cent last year. However, this may have more to do with the fact that LinkedIn has been around for 10 years and its status as the business networking tool, rather than showing a commitment to wider engagement with stakeholders through social media. All the companies in the top half of the survey sample have a presence on LinkedIn. Those that do not have a company presence Norse Group, Inviron, Arcus Solutions, GBM Support Services, Bilfinger HSG, Derwent FM and Emprise are all ranked in the bottom half of i-fm s chart, suggesting that higher turnover translates to a better presence on social media. D AA T SOCIAL MEDIA USE AT A GLANCE YES P M t P M f P M i P M x P M n 73% 27% 84% 16% 36% 64% 52% 48% 50% 50% NO Johnson Controls has the highest following on LinkedIn, with 155,747 followers, against Jones Lang LaSalle in second place with 114,341. Four companies have seen a dramatic increase in followers: Serco (up 10/11

12 Social Media in the Facilities Sector 286%); Jones Lang LaSalle (176%); Johnson Controls (131%) and Sodexo UK & Ireland (122%). t Twitter Twitter is the second most popular social media platform, with 73 per cent having a Twitter feed, marginally up from 71 per cent in. The top 15 companies all have a Twitter presence and as with LinkedIn, those that don t are clustered in the bottom half of the table. Interestingly, just three companies (Emcor, GSH and GBM Support Services) have a Facebook page but not a Twitter account. Thirteen companies have seen an increase of 100 per cent or more in their Twitter followers, with Carillion registering a 400 per cent increase, Incentive FM 256 per cent, Servest 254 per cent, Elior UK 250 per cent and Kier Group 204 per cent. Very few companies have staff tweeting on their behalf which would raise their profile on the main Twitter accounts. f Facebook Just over half (52%) of the i-fm.net top 50, have Facebook pages, down from 60 per cent last year. and there is a direct correlation between the size of company and whether it has a Facebook presence. Just four of the top 20 companies do not have a Facebook page Kier Services, Norland Managed Services, City FM and Vinci Facilities. Most of the Facebook pages which have a large following are those that are visually pleasing and filled with information. x YouTube Half of FM providers have a YouTube channel, up from 45 per cent last year and reflecting the growing popularity of video for both internal and external communications. 16 of the top 20 firms have their own YouTube channel. It is used primarily for hosting, rather than as a social media tool. n Flickr Last year around 10 per cent of the top FM providers had a presence on the picture-sharing site Flickr. That figure is up to 36 per cent this year but does not follow the pattern of other platforms with a Flickr presence found across the range of companies, large and small. Just 10 of the top FM service providers have a presence on all five of the main social media channels. However, if we exclude Flickr this increases to 17 or nearly 40 per cent and every one of the top 10 companies has a presence on the key social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Again this indicates a strong correlation between the size of company and the likelihood of it having a full complement of social media outlets. Signposting Given that many companies have clearly decided that a social media presence is important, it s surprising how many do not give their channels prominence on websites. Just 50 per cent of i-fm.net s top 50 service providers had details of their social We have multiple accounts across Twitter and Facebook, for different purposes and use Instagram, Pintrest, Vine and Snapchat for some of our younger consumer audiences. We use LinkedIn globally, and the groups within it. We have numerous blogs and we also use Yammer and Jive. media channels on their front page or easily accessible. Carillion s website ( is a good example of prominent links to social media, as are the sites of Mitie ( and Emprise ( Many have tucked details away on About Us or Contact Us pages or omit them altogether. The reason may partly be that websites haven t been revamped since social media went mainstream but this also suggests that many companies do not yet see social media as an integral part of their communications strategy. Few FM providers incorporate live feeds from channels such as Twitter into their MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

13 D AA T TWITTER & FACEBOOK POSTINGS BY DAY websites, presumably because of the risk of unmoderated postings. t f The online world is driven by search which means companies must work hard to push their official channels up the results rankings. When companies do not signpost their official social media channels (or even where they do) users may stumble across pages and feeds set up by well-meaning employees or even those keen to damage the image and reputation of a company. For example, Serco s official channel is listed ninth on a YouTube search, behind videos entitled Serco Owns the World from Breaking the Set first broadcast on RT (an international multilingual Russian-based television network) and Serco and the private companies running your country, uploaded by Truthloader. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY 350= = +360= +315= = = = = +50= +30= +40= +40= +0= +5= Conversely, Mitie s official channel tops the YouTube search, pushing a union protest video into 11th place. Multiple Twitter accounts can cause confusion, particularly if there is more activity on ancillary accounts than on the mainstream one. This is a particular problem for very large and international operations. For example, the main Twitter account for ISS issworld with 1,500 followers but those in the UK might (845 followers) more relevant. As long as retweeting is well-managed then this approach can work. Where FM is just part of a much broader offer it can sometimes be hard to track down the right social media channel. Searching for Johnson Controls, for example, will find the We find that Facebook is the best for communicating internally with staff and suppliers. We use Twitter to raise the company s profile with customers and external influencers and to comment on industry topics. verified which covers all this diversified company s business across the building and automotive sectors. More useful but not necessarily obvious for followers of FM the Twitter feed for its Global Workplace Solutions division. provides updates on construction and support services generally but you ll need to for facilities management news and views. FM providers need to think through, and if necessary rationalise, their social media presence to ensure they reach and retain the interest of their target audience. If they choose to 12/13

14 Social Media in the Facilities Sector The more thoughtful companies try to add their own slant on industry activity rather than simply retweeting. operate multiple accounts they need good signposting and cross-posting. The account names used on social media should be seen as part of an organisation s brand yet it s clear that some companies have adopted names that are not integrated with other aspects of their identity. Where possible (and the 15 character limit on Twitter handles requires creativity) companies should create a consistent social media identity across their service lines, covering both corporate and individual accounts. Activity Most of the top FM providers may have set up social media channels but they are not all using them. A total of 321 Tweets (up on last year s 285) were sent by the top 22 companies in the i-fm Top 50 during the research period (14th to 20th October), but there s a very mixed picture across the board. Six companies did not post at all: Balfour Beatty Workplace, Emcor UK, CityFM, GSH Group, Aramark and Vinci. Of these, the first four do not appear to have a Twitter account is inactive, having sent 8 tweets, the last in December Balfour Beatty Workplace was sold to GDF Suez in August which may account for the lack of social media activity. Five companies Twitter total was in single figures for the week. Just eight companies (36%) tweeted every day from Monday to Friday (down on last year s 65%) and only one, Carillion, sent tweets on Saturday and Sunday as well. Tweeting is clearly still a Monday to Friday activity. Excluding job posts, the most prolific Tweeter was Sodexo with 86 for the week, followed some way behind by Servest and Compass (both on 23); Mitie (20 on its main account); Carillion (19), Interserve (18); Kier (16); ISS (12) and Johnson Controls GWS and Rentokil (both on 10). It s a similar story on Facebook, although the overall level of activity is that much lower than Twitter. Just 41 posts to Facebook were made by the top 22 companies during the study period, down from 54 last year. Twitter itself may have had an impact here as it lends itself to instant reaction to events and multiple posting. Over half the companies did not post to Facebook, including eight that either do not have a page or have left it inactive. Sodexo again tops the rankings with 11 posts during the week, followed by Aramark (6); Carillion and Servest (5); Mitie (4); Compass, Interserve and ISS (3) and Rentokil (1). Of the 38 companies with LinkedIn pages, 15 aren t updated with news or statuses and appear to be static pages. Initially set up and then left, this suggests that many companies feel they should have a presence on what is often touted as the business version of Facebook, but once there, they either don t know how to use it, or do not have the time. Despite LinkedIn adding a header image option for all company pages, 16 of the top providers had opted not to use this facility. A large image at the top of the page makes it more inviting and helps with brand awareness. Although Amey is vastly outnumbered in followers by both Sodexo and Serco, they have made the best use of LinkedIn s functionality, using full imagery, linking to news stories as well as posting their own content, which includes videos and using the page as a recruitment tool. When i-fm.net recently asked survey respondents how they saw future use of social media, just 3 per cent thought they would have less activity. More (12%) expected it to remain about the same but the overwhelming majority (85%) predicted more involvement with social media. SECTION 4 MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

15 4content Magenta classified the top FM providers Tweets and Facebook postings into eight categories by broad topic: company news (20%); responses to topical events, industry research etc (20%); company jobs (19%*); sharing company blog, advice and social chat (11%); responses to comments, queries and complaints (7%); sharing other industry material (0%) and sharing competitor material (0%). These results are broadly similar to last year although in 8 per cent of tweets were sharing industry material. The final category, retweets, was unsurprisingly the most common at 23 per cent. Retweeting, especially from other company accounts, is often justified and is certainly easy to do but it s not particularly engaging. The more thoughtful companies try to add their own slant on industry activity rather than simply retweeting. A good example is the various industry campaigns that ran during the research week. Rentokil Initial picked up on the UN s Global Handwashing Day and Kier Group promoted GrownInBritain Week. Of course it s not all about the numbers, the quality of what s posted is crucial and again the picture is very mixed. A few FM providers are clearly putting a lot of thought into what they post in addition to major company announcements such as new business, they are sharing internal news and initiatives as well as picking up on industry events and campaigns. 0% Sharing other industry material 0% Sharing competitor material D AA T TWEETS BY TOPIC 11% Sharing company blog etc 19%* Company jobs *skewed by OCS which uses its Twitter account purely for job posting. 7% Responses to queries and complaints M 20% Responses to topical events 23% Retweets 20% Company news 14/15

16 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Some companies create their own campaigns, for example Sodexo tweeted heavily around its Wasteless Week, a weeklong employee and consumer engagement campaign run on their sites around the world to coincide with World Food Day on 16 October. In a very effective initiative, Carillion has set up a website called Sustainability Talk & News, dedicated to sustainability and supported by Business in the Community, the Green Building Council and Forum for the Future ( The site is promoted via social media to highlight Carillion s interest in and commitment to sustainability. An increasingly popular tactic is to use Twitter to highlight positive coverage in the press and increase its reach. Compass Group UK & 17 Oct Have the seen cover story in the Oct issue for our Check it out: At just 7 per cent of total tweets during the research week, comments and complaints from customers do not figure highly but they are one of the most sensitive aspects of social media. If a company responds well to complaints and criticism it can neutralise a problem or even turn a negative into a positive. If it responds poorly, it can escalate a bad situation, prolong poor publicity and possibly damage its reputation. Handled carefully, social media and particularly Twitter can be the perfect tool for crisis communications. Mobile phone operators, train and power companies have all used Twitter to get information quickly to disgruntled customers. For example O2 was widely judged to have handled last year s network outage well, with social media playing a major role. See archive/-07/17/o2-outage-social-media-masterclass for an analysis of O2 s tactics. Twitter is an instant medium, people expect a quick response. However, as a public platform for short messages often stripped of context and nuance it is not the place to engage in a lengthy exchange. Most companies seek to acknowledge the original complaint and then to resolve the problem offline. Here s a good example: Colin 18 Oct Miserable lunch at Fish and chips portion halved over summer, dried out fish, cutlery broken at first go Compass Group UK & 18 Hi, sorry to hear this; we ve passed your feedback onto our team. Can you DM us your contact details so they can get in touch? Few companies have a set response time for complaints via social media but for those that do the target ranges from 12 to 48 hours but with one company aiming to respond within two hours. Tweets are limited to 140 characters but many tweeters extend its abilities by linking to pictures and video as well as web pages. As outlined in the introduction links, photos and videos elicit more reaction than simple text. Surprisingly, during the research week very few FM providers incorporated photographs or video. The overwhelming majority of tweets were basic text messages. ISS linked to a video of its Supplier Expo ( youtube.com/watch?v=evwnuns7mcm) and MITIE to the launch of its new catering brand ( com/watch?v=rxwhee9fsfa&feature=youtu.be) Few companies have a set response time for complaints via social media but for those that do the target ranges from 12 to 48 hours. MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

17 Individual vs corporate One way for FM providers to present a more human face is for individuals to tweet and post in their own voice alongside the corporate accounts. In fact few of the top 50 FM providers have anyone tweeting in their own name. As Magenta reported in the study, Mitie is an exception, with CEO Ruby McGregor-Smith (@RubyMS) leading the way. She tweeted or retweeted 32 times during the research week with a mix of commentary on events she attended, recognition of employee and team achievements, and comment on topics such as training for young people. David Howorth (@dhoworth1), newly-appointed managing director for Mitie Client Services, tweeted 14 times during the research week but some other Mitie accounts were inactive. Debra Ward (@debs_ward), Mitie s ex-managing director of Client Services, was a prolific tweeter. Currently on gardening leave, it s likely she ll continue as an active contributor to social media in her new role as MD of Macro from January ISS has a strong Twitter presence through its global (@issworld) and UK (@ISSUKComms) accounts but these are complemented in the UK by tweets from UK & Ireland MD Richard Sykes (@RSykesISS 8 tweets) and Food and Hospitality MD Andy Chappell (@AndydinewithISS 35 tweets). Sodexo also has multiple accounts, including those of Anthony Scarpino (@SodexoAnthony), senior director talent acquisition and at least eight regional and sector recruitment people in the US. Recruitment is clearly an area where social media brings a new dimension to corporate communications and the personal touch is important. Aramark s talent acquisition manager education, Jennifer Willis (@JennARAMARK), uses Twitter to alert her followers to job opportunities. Alex Molinaroli (@amolinaroli), the CEO of Johnson Controls, appears to be the only individual tweeting at the Fortune 500 company but how many CEOs would happily tell the world: Alex 14 Oct Locked myself out of my office. How embarrassing. Especially since it s been twice today, so far... Further down the top 50 providers list, alongside Twitter account, sales and marketing director Matt Kuwertz (@MattK_Emprise) tweets regularly and other Emprise tweeters include cleaning MD Lesley Shearman (@LesleyS_Emprise), operations director Lee Moody (@LeeM_Emprise) and security MD Paul Harvey (@PaulH_Emprise). This level of engagement with social media at a senior management level is unusual. Putting the social into social media The content of tweets posted during the study period raises an interesting question for FM providers. What is the right mix of tweets to capture and retain followers? Limiting the Twitter feed to straightforward news announcements may not engage those with whom the company is trying to build a closer relationship. Conversely, too much internal or social news and people may start to unfollow the company. There is a category of tweets and retweets which is really just chat between company insiders. It s not really news but it does give a feeling of openness, approachability and humour, all of which can be valuable in building the company s profile and image. It s a difficult balancing act, particularly if you use one main account. International companies with one Facebook presence, such 16/17

18 Social Media in the Facilities Sector as Aramark, Emcor or Johnson Controls, may find it difficult to connect with local stakeholders, particularly if postings are dominated by news from one large market such as the US. A single voice for a company can convey the impression of global reach and capability but can also seem remote from the local experience of employees and customers. Social media policies and practice A number of companies, such as Mitie and Serco, have formalised their social media policies in published guidance. Serco says: Social media provides new opportunities for business, communication and collaboration, and new obligations for us to protect our people and reputation. The company permits its staff, where appropriate for your work, to publish material on social media sites which refers to Serco provided they behave professionally; do not harm the reputation of Serco or its employees and check privacy settings to ensure that posts do not compromise the user s identity, location or other personal details. Mitie says we love social media. But if it isn t used with care it can create problems. To avoid risk, people must use common sense when communicating on social media sites, paying special attention to confidentiality and company loyalty. Mitie s communication policy advises staff not to engage in any activity or disclose information that brings or is likely to bring Mitie into disrepute; not to use the internet to attack or abuse colleagues, clients, suppliers or partners; and not to blog or post messages anonymously. Importantly, Mitie employees are prohibited from setting up a group, page, blog, website or network that mentions the company without the prior approval of the corporate affairs team. In its recent survey on social media i-fm. net found that two-thirds of respondents had a formal policy in place. It is relatively early days for us but already it is part of our internal and external communications programme. Oli Worth, IP and IT specialist with solicitors Greenwoods. Legal issues The law is, to a certain extent, playing catch-up with social media. The basics of libel and defamation have not changed but social media make it much easier for someone to inadvertently commit these offences and for others to propagate the original postings. Oli Worth, IP and IT specialist with solicitors Greenwoods, advises companies to not just create a policy for the use of social media but to follow this up with best practice advice and training. People don t always understand the repercussions of their use of social media, says Worth, For example, if an employee goes home and tweets about their bad day, including criticism of another member of staff, there may be a vicarious liability on the employer. Essentially, workplace bullying can now take place online. Social media can be used to great effect to deal with customer complaints but be careful not to make promises you can t deliver as these could be used in any later MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

19 dispute. It s a fine line between giving a generic response and getting drawn into the detail of remedies and response times. Certainly avoid exchanging information which identifies individuals (including car or van licence plates for example) on a public forum these should always be taken offline. Steer people away from making allegations that could be seen as defamation. As the Lord McAlpine case shows, the damages for retweeting and otherwise spreading a defamatory message can be as high as for the original offence. If you provide services directly to the public you should ensure that staff dealing with comments and complaints receive special training and support. Reading and responding to a stream of online invective, even when it s aimed at your company rather than you personally, is not a pleasant job. D AA T STREISAND EFFECT The name comes from Barbra Streisand s attempt to suppress photographs of her house in Malibu Before she filed her lawsuit, the offending image had been downloaded just six times As a result of the case, more than 400,000 people visited the site over the following month Intellectual property rights are increasingly being seen as a risk area for companies using social media. The terms and conditions for services such as Twitter and LinkedIn give them a right to use your content, including images. You retain copyright, if it is yours, but effectively give up control of how material is used. This is from Twitter s terms of service : By submitting, posting or displaying content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed). A recent area of dispute is over the ownership of followers and friends on social media. In a high profile case that tackled the question of who owns a professional Twitter account started during a period of employment, blogger Noah Kravitz was sued by his former employer for his Twitter followers, with the value of each follower put at $2.50. The case has finally been settled after a year and a half of tough mediation. One way to tackle this is to ensure that social media policies sanction tweeting about company business from official accounts only. Oli Worth says disputes about the ownership of followers and friends are likely to hinge on questions such as: Who set up an account and why? Is the company name in the social media handle? Which address is the account linked to? Finally, beware the Streisand effect - when an attempt to hide, remove, or censor information has the unintended consequence of publicising the information more widely. The name comes from Barbra Streisand s attempt to suppress photographs of her house in Malibu. Before she filed her lawsuit, the image had been downloaded just six times, twice by her own lawyers. As a result of the case, more than 400,000 people visited the site over the following month! We asked communications and marketing managers at the top FM providers who is responsible for social media output and whether they encouraged other people within the organisation to post. For most social media is a marketing responsibility, with one or two having a dedicated social media manager. Most companies encouraged others to use social media, subject to guidance. 18/19

20 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Evaluation of campaigns, we set a target at the start of each one, we then evaluate all aspects of the campaign and ultimately how many additional sales it has generated or helped generate. Almost two-thirds (65%) of respondents to i-fm.net s survey said they had had no training in the use of social media. Of the remaining third, about 60 per cent had had some external training and for the rest training was provided internally and often informally. Very few companies have a dedicated budget for social media, it is usually part of an overall communications or marketing budget. Most do, however, attempt to measure the return on investment in social media activity. One provider said it is assessed in a similar way to conventional PR, looking D AA T TOP FM PROVIDERS KLOUT SCORES Jones Lang LaSalle Carillion Support Services G4S Integrated Services MITIE Group Mace Group BAM Construction By way of comparison Tesco Red Bull MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

21 at favourability (positive/negative/ neutral), key message penetration, engagement and stakeholder advocacy. Measurement The success of social media activity can be measured in a number of ways using online services that apply algorithms to assess influence and reach. For individual companies the best way is to use your own metrics and to track the impact of social media campaigns on other marketing, sales and communication activity. The most popular online tool is Klout. com a service that measures users online influence on a scale from 1 to 100. As Klout defines it: Influence is the ability to drive action. When you share something on social media or in real life and people respond, that s influence. The more influential you are, the higher your Klout Score. Magenta checked the top FM providers Klout scores (see infographic, left): One measure of how interactive you are on Twitter is the ratio of people you follow to the people following you. If you are followed by far more people than you follow then maybe you re just talking Our PR and marketing partners are involved in our social media programme, although it is principally driven as an in-house activity with a marketing and brand awareness focus. without listening. If you follow plenty of people but not too many follow you, then maybe you re not saying anything interesting! Ideally your follow-tofollowers ratio should be around 1. The logic doesn t quite hold for corporate Twitter accounts but it s something to consider. If you re not seen to be listening to your stakeholders then you re not really using social media for what it s good at. With vastly more followers than followed, very few of the top FM providers come near the ideal ratio but SGP Property Facilities, Emprise Services, Compass Group and Mitie are closer than the rest. Another way of measuring the reach of your social media activity is to create a #tag on Twitter for an initiative or event and to track how it s picked up, using a tool such as Tweet Binder. The top performers It is difficult to make comparisons across such a diverse market and different social media platforms. Many FM providers make great use of one particular social media channel but struggled to deliver consistently across all platforms. Combining measures including increase in followers, number of tweets/posts during the research week and Klout scores with a subjective assessment of the range and content of social media activity we selected these top ten social media performers: (1) Sodexo (2) Carillion Support Services (3) Mitie Group (4) Kier Services (5) ISS Facility Services (6) Serco (7) Johnson Controls GWS (8) Interserve (9) Compass (10) Amey SECTION 5 TOP FM PROVIDERS KLOUT SCORES Company Klout score (at 9/10/13) Jones Lang LaSalle 63 Carillion Support Services 59 G4S Integrated Services 57 MITIE Group 56 Macro 55 BAM FM 55 Compass UK & Ireland 54 Kier Services 54 Johnson Controls 53 Balfour Beatty Workplace 53 Sodexo UK & Ireland 52 Interserve Support Services 48 Rentokil Initial 47 Amey Built Environment 47 ISS Facility Services 46 Vinci Facilities 46 Norland Managed Services 45 Servest Multi Service 44 PHS Group 43 Emprise 43 OCS Group 42 Incentive FM 42 Serco 41 Elior UK 41 SGP Property Facilities 38 Integral UK 36 Aramark 35 Anabas 35 Europa Support Services 29 Hochtief Facility UK 21 Robertson FM 12 EMCOR UK The following FM providers do not have a Klout score Arcus Solutions, Bilfinger HSG,City FM, Derwent FM, ETDE, GBM Support Services, GSH Group, Inviron, John Laing Integrated Services, Norse Group, Resource Support Services, Turner Facilities 20/21

22 Social Media in the Facilities Sector There are a few examples of FM service providers who are performing well on selected social media channels, but there is not one individual organisation that shines across all platforms. The most striking observation uncovered by Magenta s research is the lack of commitment and resources allocated to social media, with many organisations dipping a toe into the water and then sporadically updating after the honeymoon period is over. This research has uncovered some key areas where many organisations fell well below the recommended best practice. Here are some key recommendations for the top facilities management companies and others within the sector. Unlike many business sectors such as technology and retail that were early adopters of social media, facilities management has been slow to exploit these new communication opportunities. 5Conclusions & recommendations MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

23 1 2 3 Before setting up social media channels, write a social media strategy, outlining what you are looking to achieve through social media, how it will be managed, including a budget and resources, and how performance will be measured. Do not set up a channel on a whim. And do not set up a social media channel just because it s there. It has to be right for your business List your social media channels prominently on your website, corporate literature (including business cards) and press releases to ensure your audience knows where to find you Encourage your senior team to tweet regularly under their own accounts. People buy from people, not companies, and people also have more interesting things to say than companies. Offer plenty of freedom while ensuring people stick to a social media policy Once a channel has been set up ensure it is well-managed with regular news, comments and conversations. If this no longer becomes possible because of a change in strategy or direction, either close down the account, or at the very least ensure it is monitored so any queries can be responded to If your organisation uses multiple channels, for different parts of the business, ensure they are well signposted. Ensure there is some form of centralised control over official company accounts so they look and feel part of a family, and are managed in a similar way Don t use social media only to talk about your business. Adhere to the one in 15 marketing posts theory and aim to become a trusted source of information about facilities management, sharing material from a range of sources, offering advice, asking questions and generally being a great conversationalist Whenever possible use open-ended questions and try to promote interaction with social media posts. Listen as much as you talk. Ensure your followers to followed ratio is broadly 1.1 Engage with journalists and industry leaders. Search for keywords such as #facilitiesmanagement and join in, and start, debates Tweet and post pictures and video links at least as much as you tweet statuses, if not more Tweet more in the afternoon, when retweeting activity is higher, and later in the week and don t forget the weekends for Facebook Measure what you do, and find out what generates the most engagement. And do more of that Take time to personalise your social media channels and make them look part of your brand 22/23

24 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix A Social media channel overview for the facilities management industry. Company Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Flickr Others Changes from Serco Y Y Y Y Y Carillion Support Services Y Y Y Y Y Vimeo Flickr, YouTube & Vimeo added Mitie Group Y Y Y Y Y Digg account removed Compass UK & Ireland Y Y Y Y N Sodexo UK & Ireland Y Y Y Y Y Interserve Support Services Y Y Y Y N ISS Facility Services Y Y Y Y N Johnson Controls Y Y Y Y Y Rentokil Initial Y Y Y Y Y blog OCS Group Y Y Y Y N Balfour Beatty Workplace Y Y Y Y Y g+ Kier Services N Y Y Y N PHS Group Y Y Y Y N Norland Managed Services N Y Y N N Aramark Y Y Y Y Y Emcor UK Y N Y Y N City FM N N N N GSH Group Y N Y N N G4S Integrated Services Y Y Y Y Y Vinci Facilities N N Y N Y Integral UK N Y Y Y Y Pinterest Servest Group Y Y Y N Y Flickr added Norse Group N N N N N MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

25 LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the three most used social media channels with 84 per cent of the top FM providers having a LinkedIn page and 73 per cent an official Twitter account. Company Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Flickr Others Changes from Amey Built Environment N Y Y Y N Elior UK N Y Y N N Resource Support Services N N Y N N Europa Support Services N Y Y N N Inviron N N N N N Bouygues Energy & Services Y Y Y Y N Formerly EDTE Jones Lang LaSalle Y Y Y Y Y Emprise N Y Y Y Y LinkedIn added John Laing Integrated Services N N Y N N Turner Facilities N N Y N N Macro N Y Y N N SGP Property Facilities N Y Y N N Incentive FM Y Y Y N N Arcus Solutions N N N N N GBM Support Services Y N N N N Hochtief Facility UK N Y Y N N BAM FM Y Y Y Y N g+, Pinterest Pinterest added Robertson FM N N Y N N Bilfinger HSG Y Y N N Y Derwent FM N Y N N N Anabas N Y Y N Y Flickr added 24/25

26 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix Facebook analysis for official company pages, looking at the content, interaction and number of likes. bcompany No. of likes No. of likes No. talking about it No. talking about it Commentary Facebook address Serco , ,441 Active page with regular posts, 5-10 posts per day. facebook.com/sercoindiabpo Carillion Support Services The two pages set up in have been removed and replaced with a new one. CarillionUpdates Mitie Group 2,111 2, Active Facebook page with regular posts. Compass UK & Ireland * Regular posts and good interaction from the site admin to any posts made by the public. Sodexo UK & Ireland * 85 2, Sodexo has a lot of different country specific pages. The previous UK careers referenced in the research has been replaced with a new UK page, which receives regular posts and replies by the page admin and staff members. facebook.com/mitiepeople facebook.com/ CompassGroupUKI?ref=ts SodexoUKIreland Interserve Support Services The previously inactive page is now being used, with a handful of posts per month. ISS Facility Services 6,299 23, Active facebook page with regular posts, but ISS is no longer replying to users comments, a change from last year! A new UK page opened in May with 183 likes at the time of compiling this report. facebook.com/pages/ Interserve/ facebook.com/issworld Johnson Controls 1,851 2, Regular posts but limited interaction based on the audience size, this also appears to be a US page for a specific project/ department. facebook.com/demodrive MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

27 Company No. of likes No. of likes No. talking about it No. talking about it Commentary Facebook address Rentokil Initial 1,165 1, Active Facebook page, but no regular wall posts since August. Rentokil replies to comments from Facebook users on its page, so clearly monitor it frequently. facebook.com/rentokilpestcontrol OCS Group Active Facebook page, but with infrequent posts. Limited user following. Balfour Beatty Workplace Active Facebook page with 1-2 posts per week. facebook.com/ocsuk?ref=ts facebook.com/balfourbeatty Kier Services N/A N/A PHS Group 1 1 Facebook page set up, but it does not appear to be active. Possibly not an official page. facebook.com/pages/phs-group- Plc/ Norland Managed Services N/A N/A Aramark 22, Regular posts, almost daily, but doesn t appear to be monitored. Emcor UK posts per month, but with little interaction. Aramark facebook.com/emcorgroupinc City FM N/A N/A GSH Group 8 8 Limited information/activity. Possibly not an official page. facebook.com/pages/gsh-group- Inc/ G4S Integrated Services 36,142 75,091 2,699 1,067 Active Facebook page with regular posts. Vinci Facilities 29 Previous page removed, no official page. Integral UK N/A N/A facebook.com/g4s 26/27

28 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix bcompany No. of likes No. of likes No. talking about it No. talking about it Commentary Facebook address Servest Group 1,236 1, Active Facebook page with regular posts, but clearly unmonitored, rude and damaging comments remain up and not responded to. facebook.com/theservestgroup Norse Group A page was set up in February as a personal page rather than a company page, this has been excluded from the report as it contravenes Facebook regulations. Amey Built Environment N/A N/A Elior UK 4 Dormant page, no activity since January. Elior/ Resource Support Services N/A N/A Europa Support Services N/A N/A Inviron N/A N/A Bouygues Energy & Services Joined in January, but page only receives one post per month. N/A Jones Lang LaSalle 1,126 2, Active Facebook page with regular posts, but limited interaction. facebook.com/joneslanglasalle Emprise N/A N/A John Laing Integrated Services N/A N/A Turner Facilities N/A N/A Macro Previous facebook page has been removed. SGP Property Facilities N/A N/A N/A Incentive FM Active Facebook page with regular posts. Facebook.com/pages/Incentive- FM-Group/ MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

29 Company No. of likes No. of likes No. talking about it No. talking about it Commentary Facebook address Arcus Solutions N/A N/A GBM Support Services 15 0 Dormant page, there has been no activity since January. Hochtief Facility UK N/A N/A BAM FM Active and aesthetically striking Facebook page with regular posts, but very little interaction and no responses to post made by the public. BAM has linked their twitter and Facebook account and actively publish across both platforms. pages/gbm-support-services- Group/ ?fref=ts BAMConstructUK Robertson FM N/A N/A N/A Bilfinger HSG Active page with monthly updates in German. Derwent FM N/A N/A Anabas N/A N/A Bilfinger-HSG-FM-Rhein-Ruhr- GmbH/ ?fref=ts *best examples of Facebook use 28/29

30 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix c An ccompany Main Twitter account No. of followers No. of followers No. following No. following No. of Tweets No. of Tweets Commentary 704 1, Infrequent use, nothing since gets regular updates. Carillion Support 1,339 7, , ,342 There are multiple Twitter accounts for various sectors of Carillion. The main Carillionplc posts several times a day. Mitie 5,513 10,012 2,491 5, that was used in the last report has been replaced Compass UK & Ireland Sodexo UK & Ireland overview of the activity and reach of Twitter for w/c 7th 1,508 4, ,243 1,002 2,486 There are multiple Twitter accounts, the main is well established with a large following. The Compass jobs account hasn't tweeted since 1,291 2, ,629 Multiple Twitter accounts, with a lot of staff also tweeting on behalf of the company. account used for the report has now been replaced Other Twitter @SodexoUKDiverse (not a fully comprehensive list, but that is the majority of significant accounts) MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

31 Company Interserve Support Services ISS Facility Services Johnson Controls Main Twitter account No. of followers No. of followers No. following No. following No. of Tweets No. of Tweets 1,730 5, Regular tweets and 759 1, for the UK in addition ISSworld and countryspecific 6,176 1, is no longer active. All previous related accounts have now been taken down apart Rentokil 1,836 2, ,085 1,961 Rentokil has two Twitter accounts that are both well established with a large following and frequent activity. OCS OCS has only one Twitter account, that only tweets about job vacancies. Balfour Beatty 6,079 16, Multiple Twitter accounts, all of which are active. List provided is not necessarily comprehensive, but includes all of the main is a protected (locked account). Kier 4,438 13, ,073 One Twitter account with a large following. The account replies to people's tweets and comments on a frequent basis, which many other companies do not do. PHS Significant increase in usage since the last report, with almost daily tweets at present. Other @rentokil (4275 tweets, 2,382 following, @ BB_Suffolk 30/31

32 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix ccompany Norland Managed Services Main Twitter account No. of followers No. of followers No. following No. following No. of Tweets No. of Tweets Primarily used for retweeting other people from the FM industry. 7, ,018 Multiple Twitter accounts with a large following and frequent updates. The previous report listed results followers 1174, followers 1545, following 1, following 1, tweets 3, tweets 1) this account is now dormant, aramark becoming the dominant channel. Emcor UK N/A N/A City FM N/A N/A GSH Group The previous Twitter account has been removed, at time of the last report it had only tweeted once! G4S Integrated 2,912 5, G4S has multiple Twitter accounts, all of which are active. The list provided is not necessarily comprehensive, but includes all of the main accounts. Vinci 1, New account since the last report. Integral New account since the last report. Servest Group Servest_UK There is one UK Twitter account with a reasonable following and frequent updates. Norse Group N/A N/A N/A Other @G4S MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

33 Company Amey Built Environment Main Twitter account No. of followers No. of followers No. following No. following No. of Tweets No. of Tweets 2,492 5, One Twitter account with a large following and frequent updates. Elior During the last report there were 2 accounts running and it was unlcear which was is now no longer used. Resource Support Services Europa Support Services N/A N/A One Twitter account with a reasonable following and frequent updates. Inviron N/A N/A N/A Bouygues Energy & Services Jones Lang ETDE became Bouygues Energy & Services and no longer has a Twitter 14,642 27, ,042 5,391 JLL has a strong presence on Twitter, with all accounts updated frequently ,283 Reasonable presence on Twitter. Multiple accounts all of which are frequently updated. John Laing Integrated Services Turner Facilities 5,575 11, Regular tweets and a good use of mentions to drive interaction/ exposure. SGP Property Infrequant use, with lots of retweets rather than original content. N/A N/A Other N/A N/A 32/33

34 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix c Company Main Twitter account No. of followers No. of followers No. following No. following No. of Tweets No. of Tweets Commentary Incentive Active Twitter account with good use of hashtags and mentions. Arcus Solutions N/A N/A GBM Support Services Hochtief Facility FM_UK Spurts of activity followed by long periods of inactivity! hochtief_ag has a lot more acitivty, with some in English and some in German. BAM 4,448 12, ,308 Following on from the previous BAMGroup_EU now gets regular updates as well as the UK account. Robertson This is Craig Wilson s account, who works for Robertson and tweets on its behalf, but there is no corporate account. Bilfinger Inactive associate director tweets about FM and Bilfinger. Derwent Inactive account Neglected account with roughly one tweet per month. *best examples of Twitter use N/A Other Twitter MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

35 Appendix LinkedIn analysis for compared to, with comments on content, structure and features being used. dcompany Details No. of followers Serco* Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 14,961 57,786 Carillion Support Services Regular updates, headline image, but no active tabs. 9,258 26,826 Mitie Group Regular updates, rotating headline image and tabs. 4,179 14,465 Compass UK & Ireland 5 recent updates, a header image, but no active tabs. 6, Sodexo UK & Ireland* Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 34, ,350 Interserve Support Services Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 2,805 9,380 ISS Facility Services Some updates, headline image and tabs ,331 No. of followers Johnson Controls Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 67, ,747 Rentokil Initial Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 4,133 8,980 OCS Group No headline images or updates, but the services tab is filled out. 1,611 3,947 Balfour Beatty Workplace No headline images, updates or tabs, just basic company info. 1,906 4,594 Kier Services Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 5,127 17,307 PHS Group Headline image and services, but no updates ,371 Norland Managed Services Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 1,688 5,213 Aramark Regular updates, headline image, but tabs. 20,165 45,706 Emcor UK No image, tabs or updates and very limited information which has been duplicated! 1,928 3,579 City FM Headline image, but no updates or tabs. 817 GSH Group Headline image and company info, but no updates or tabs. 1,305 3,233 G4S Integrated Services Company info but no headline image, tabs, or recent updates. 11,989 10,164 Vinci Facilities Company info and some recent updates, but no headline image or tabs ,712 Integral UK Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 1,324 Servest Group Regular updates, headline image and tabs ,461 Norse Group No company page. Amey Built Environment* Regular updates, headline image, good use of video and tabs. 3,912 10,184 Elior UK Only company info, no headline image or tabs. 1,761 4,194 Resource Support Services No company page /35

36 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix d Company Details No. of followers Europa Support Services Regular updates, but no headline images or active tabs ,039 Inviron Company info, but no headline image or tabs Bouygues Energy & Services Headline image and company info, but no updates or tabs ,674 No. of followers Jones Lang LaSalle Regular updates, headline image, good use of video and tabs. 41, ,341 Emprise Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 244 John Laing Integrated Services Just company info, no headline image or tabs ,061 Turner Facilities No company page. 371 Macro Just company info, no headline image or tabs ,470 SGP Property Facilities Regular updates, headline image and tabs Incentive FM Just company info, no headline image or tabs Arcus Solutions No company page. GBM Support Services Just company info, no headline image or tabs. 96 Hochtief Facility UK Dorment page with no content. 159 BAM FM Regular updates, headline image and tabs. 2,207 7,403 Robertson FM Vibrant page with regular updates, but no tabs ,436 Rollright Facilities Dorment page, no updates since August, no headline image or tabs Derwent FM Dorment page with no content. 45 Anabas No updates or headline image, but it does contain a service tab *best examples of LinkedIn use MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

37 Appendix Results on the industry usage of the video sharing and hosting social media site YouTube. ecompany YouTube page No. of hits No. of hits Serco Carillion Support Services Mitie Group Compass UK & Ireland Sodexo UK & Ireland Interserve Support Services ISS Facility Services Johnson Controls Rentokil Initial OCS Group Balfour Beatty Workplace Kier Services PHS Group Norland Managed Services N/A Aramark Emcor UK City FM N/A GSH Group Sercocommunications CarillionplcLatest/about MITIEGroupPLC CompassGroupUK SodexoChannel InterservePlc ISSworldservicesTV johnsoncontrolsinc?feature=results_main RentokilInitialplc OCSGroupLtd balfourbeattyus KierGroupplc PhsGroupPlc aramarktv emcorgroup?feature=results_main GSHGroup/feed 33,742 23,630 5,952 31,795 47, ,044 64,118 84,065 10,633 22,068 10,671 33,536 55,635 97,088 10,567 14,255 7,224 10,224 22,222 26,294 6,292 17, ,910 71, /37

38 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix ecompany YouTube page No. of hits No. of hits G4S Integrated Services Vinci Facilities Integral UK Servest Group Norse Group N/A Amey Built Environment Elior UK N/A Resource Support Services N/A Europa Support Services N/A Inviron N/A Bouygues Energy & Services Jones Lang LaSalle* Emprise John Laing Integrated Services N/A Turner Facilities N/A Macro N/A SGP Property Facilities N/A Incentive FM Arcus Solutions N/A GBM Support Services N/A Hochtief Facility UK N/A BAM FM g4suk?feature=results_main UCo1DpqZtTK583SOYN2s3I4Q TheServestGroup/feed - youtube.com/user/servestsecurity Ameyplc?feature=watch BouyguesES joneslanglasalle EmpriseServices incentivefmgroup bamconstructuk 26,240 33, ,351,440 2,720 7, , , , ,369 19,699 MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

39 Company YouTube page No. of hits No. of hits Robertson FM N/A Bilfinger HSG N/A Derwent FM N/A Anabas N/A *best examples of YouTube use Half of FM providers have a YouTube channel, up from 45 per cent last year and reflecting the growing popularity of video for both internal and external communications. 38/39

40 Social Media in the Facilities Sector Appendix An audit of social media links and the use of integration on facilities management providers websites. fcompany Company website displays links to social media sites Company website does not display links to social media sites Comment Serco Has removed links since the last report. Carillion Support Services Very visible and clear. Mitie Group Very visible and clear. Compass UK & Ireland Only Facebook and twitter links. Sodexo UK & Ireland Has added links since the last report. Interserve Support Services ISS Facility Services Links are hidden at the bottom of the page, they didn't have links during the last report. Johnson Controls Rentokil Initial Not all channels have links and they are hidden at the bottom fo the page. OCS Group There's only a text menu link to YouTube. Balfour Beatty Workplace Kier Services Hard to see. PHS Group The links are very visible, but don't feature all of their channels. Norland Managed Services Doesn't include a link to the LinkedIn page. Aramark Emcor UK City FM GSH Group G4S Integrated Services Vinci Facilities Integral UK Servest Group Has added links since the last report. Norse Group Has added links since the last report. MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

41 Company Company website displays links to social media sites Company website does not display links to social media sites Comment Amey Built Environment The icons are very small and easily lost. Elior UK Resource Support Services Europa Support Services Doesn't include a link to the LinkedIn page Inviron Bouygues Energy & Services Jones Lang LaSalle Site includes a twitter feed, but you have to scroll down the page to see both the feed and the links. Emprise* Good link location and features a twitter feed. John Laing Integrated Services Turner Facilities The website prompts you to log in, not very inviting! Macro SGP Property Facilities Incentive FM The links/icons are very small and easy to miss and there isn't a link to LinkedIn. Arcus Solutions GBM Support Services Hochtief Facility UK BAM FM Robertson FM Bilfinger HSG Derwent FM Anabas *best examples of link use. 40/41

42 Social Media in the Facilities Sector g Appendix Overview of what the top facilities management companies talk about on Twitter. Total no. of tweets in research period (14-20 October ) Promoting company news Promoting company job Sharing company blog, free advice Responding to complaint/ comment/ query from internal or external public Responding to topical events, industry research etc Sharing other industry material Sharing competitor material Serco Carillion Support Services Mitie Group Compass UK & Ireland Sodexo UK & Ireland Interserve Support Services ISS Johnson Controls Rentokil Initial OCS Group Balfour Beatty Workplace Kier Services PHS Group Norland Managed Services Aramark Emcor UK City FM GSH Group G4S Integrated Services Vinci Integral UK Servest Group Retweets MAGENTA RESEARCH PAPER NOVEMBER

43 Appendix h Overview of what the top facilities management companies talk about on Facebook. There s a direct correlation between the size of company and whether it has a Facebook presence. Pages that are visually interesting and filled with information attract the largest following. Total no. of FB comments in research period (14-20 October ) Promoting company news Promoting company job Sharing company blog, free advice Responding to complaint/ comment/ query from internal or external public Responding to topical events, industry research etc Sharing other industry material Sharing competitor material Serco Carillion Support Services Mitie Group Compass UK & Ireland Sodexo UK & Ireland Interserve Support Services ISS Johnson Controls Rentokil Initial OCS Group Balfour Beatty Workplace Kier Services PHS Group Norland Managed Services Aramark Emcor UK City FM GSH Group G4S Integrated Services Vinci Integral UK Servest Group /43

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