Swiss companies do not exploit potential of mobile communication

Communication via mobile channels presents Swiss companies with many question marks. In the next three years, traditional media relations will continue to lose importance, according to PR managers. This is one result of the survey conducted by Ketchum supported European Communication Monitor (ECM), the world's largest survey of communication professionals.Press relations lose importanceWhile 76 percent of PR managers still consider press relations to be important today, this figure will fall by 35 percentage points with a view to 2017; for TV and radio, the decline in importance is only 13 percentage points.By contrast, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (up 26 percentage points) and, above all, instruments for mobile communication - for example apps - (up 40 percentage points) will become increasingly important for addressing stakeholders and target groups by 2017, according to PR professionals."However, only two out of three organizations in Switzerland have optimized their websites for mobile devices," says Adrian Huwyler, Head of Digital Marketing at PRfact, Ketchum's Swiss affiliate agency.Integration as a major challengeFor six out of ten Swiss PR managers, the greatest opportunity of mobile communication is to offer information in a user-friendly way. They rate the opportunity to communicate in real time and directly with their target groups as almost as attractive.65 percent of respondents, on the other hand, believe that the biggest challenge in introducing mobile communication channels is that the tools would have to be integrated into the overall communication strategy and offer additional value.Investment in mobile communication channels inevitable"Only one in four Swiss organizations has a mobile press area for journalists," says Adrian Huwyler. "Yet communications professionals know from their own networking experience how important digital and social media have been for years. Nevertheless, companies still invest too little in digital and mobile communication channels away from their products and brands. "Good solutions are needed. The PRfact AG together with its customer PXL AG, has developed a newsroom that can display various multimedia data on all mobile devices. The launch will take place later this year.Social media expectations of the target groupsAnother result of the European Communication Monitor shows what PR experts think stakeholders expect from the content of companies' social media communications.The communications professionals think that information about events and crises is the most important (70 percent). This is immediately followed by the desire for product and service information on future and new offerings (66 percent). Details on current articles and on corporate social responsibility measures rank equally in the wish list (both 64 percent). Financial news, on the other hand, is less important in social media communication.The full report on ECM 2014 is available at www.communicationmonitor.eu. There are also the results from the last years.