Social Media Usage Amongst FTSE 100 Companies – Company Profile – GlaxoSmithKline
This article forms part of a study on social media usage amongst FTSE 100 companies.
Each company in the FTSE 100 index was reviewed on its usage of such social media tools as RSS feeds*, blogs, online video, podcasts and social media platforms like Flickr and Facebook on its main website and on occasion, on websites of well-known subsidiary companies.
*RSS feeds are a simple way of delivering fresh versions of a website’s content to online readers automatically.
According to the Guardian.co.uk Business Glossary:
“The FTSE 100 index comprises the 100 most highly capitalised blue chip companies on the London Stock Exchange, representing approximately 81% of the UK market.”
Let’s take a look at how pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) stacked up.
| FTSE 100 Company | RSS | Webcast | Blog | Online Video | Audio | Facebook, Twitter, etc |
| GlaxoSmithKline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Online Video/Webcasts: Yes
Usage of Social Media platforms: Yes
(Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg etc)
According to Yahoo Finance:
GlaxosmithKline, on the pharmaceutical crusadeThe British group, GlaxosmithKline, ranks among the top five world-class companies in the pharmaceuticals sector.Essentially the group’s interest lies in three major therapeutic fields: infections, the central nervous system and metabolic and gastric conditions, for which it offers a variety of medicines and vaccines.
My pre-evaluation expectation of how the company will fare:
Again one of those companies that will be hard to say whether they will have much of an involvement with social media platforms due to the nature of the company. However, I have noticed that GlaxoSmithKline do have various sponsor links such as the upcoming London 2012 Olympics, and sponsoring programmes to help quit smoking. Therefore following this it would not surprise me to see some form of social media interaction from GlaxoSmithKline.
Commentary:
What we have here is a very social media and multimedia platform rich website encasing all aspects of the social media platforms and making use of all possible means of online media. GlaxoSmithKline have clearly taken into account all the possibilities of having a big online media presence and taken advantage of social media websites.
Upon going to GlaxoSmithKline’s website you are presented with a ‘busy’ website with lots of information directing you to different links, but non the less, there is a handy links section at the top of the page with a nifty search bar, which made it more easier to navigate and find what I was looking for, multimedia platforms.
I was able to find GlaxoSmithKline’s RSS feed section which offers two separate feeds, one for feature feeds and one for their press release feeds, there is also a little description- “RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are an easy way of finding out when we have updated certain parts of our website (such as press releases), without having to visit the website itself”.
What was nice to find was a webcast and blog section offering presentations on various topics including: results announcements, financial presentations and healthcare conferences. Not only that but they also have a library covering the last 4 years.
GlaxoSmithKline don’t just stop at video, they also have downloadable audio segments from meetings over future products, BBC programme audio recordings, and important press release information over development programmes.
Not content with having a wide database of information covering multimedia platforms on their website, GlaxoSmithKline also have a big online presence on the popular social media websites. Their online presence covers Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter. Though their use of Facebook, Flickr and Twitter are mainly limited, they do have a channel on YouTube, which is excellent, it houses most of their webcasts in excellent quality.
Recommendations
- Not much to offer here they seem to have covered everything essential. Maybe a Flash video player on the website from one of their social media outposts, or a Facebook page for surveys on products etc, other than that GlaxoSmithKline have a dab hand at using social media and multimedia platforms, to engage with customers and businesses.
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What do you think?
Are you a customer, employee, shareholder or stakeholder of GlaxoSmithKline? I would love to hear your thoughts on this review. What would you like to see GlaxoSmithKline doing more of in terms of social media? More online video? More interaction between those affected perhaps?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Need any help?
Do you work for GlaxoSmithKline and want some insight into some of the ideas published here?
Or perhaps you look after marketing for GlaxoSmithKline and would like a quick chat about putting some of those recommendations into practice. Contact us.
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