Over 99% of the companies in Romania in the Top 1000 by turnover in 2020 are present in some form in the online environment, according to a study conducted by the digital marketing agency Klain. This impressive statistic signals the increase in the importance of online presence in recent years and its acceleration in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it confirms both the importance of maintaining an activity outside the offline area, and the existence of a growth opportunity for small and medium-sized companies in this environment.
Valentin Bolboaca, the manager of the Klain agency, explains the objectives of the study and the observations that can be extracted from it: “I can honestly say that the data resulting from the analysis were surprising. Initially, we started from the premise that the businesses in the top 1000 do not place much emphasis on online, given that many of them develop business relationships and conclude transactions offline. At the end of its realization, when we concluded that almost all of them are present in this environment, we obtained a real picture of the acceleration of the transition to the digital area and the importance of communication in this space, not only for large companies, but also for small and medium-sized businesses. To have a chance to survive in a market dominated by multinationals, the latter must invest smartly in digital.”
The online presence of the largest companies in Romania is not conditioned by the segment they address, namely B2B or B2C. Under these circumstances, the study reveals that they are not necessarily influenced by direct sales made in the digital area, but rather by a current need to exist in this field.
Klain, a digital marketing agency with 15 years of experience in this field, collected data on the online presence and activity of companies in the Top 1000, with the objective of conducting an investigation on digitization trends, communication channels, but also on the opportunities that small and medium-sized companies have in this environment.
Thus, out of the total of 1000 businesses analyzed, 992 are present in one form or another in the online environment. The prevalent form of activity is represented by PR campaigns, 91.7% of companies carrying out such actions in the digital space. Of course, the PR segment is based on a complex strategy, which includes and is based on multiple online communication channels. It is indispensable for large companies, but it can also bring significant advantages to small and medium-sized ones. These include: increasing trust in the brand, minimizing the separation between the business and potential customers, increasing the overall reputation, promoting the human element and, of course, amplifying the online presence.
The second form of digitalization implemented by the most important companies in Romania is the website, 91.6% of them choosing this communication channel. The website is an “online business card”, being the most effective way to establish presence in this environment. Moreover, it is in many cases the first direct interaction that the consumer has with a digital business, and can be associated with a first impression of everyday life.
Nowadays, there are many ways to create a website, but the ease of obtaining it is not always a positive aspect. Simply owning a website is not enough, as it must comply with certain conditions and best practices regarding design, structure, content, SEO, loading speed, and more. For example, even though 91.6% of the top 1000 companies have a website, only 82.2% of them have optimized their website for mobile. Given the predilection of users as well as mobile search engines, the percentage reveals the discrepancy between the existence of a website and its effective use.
As long as good practices are respected, however, it can be a beneficial tool not only for large companies, but even more so for small and medium-sized companies. Regardless of the industry in which they operate and the target audience they address, businesses can turn a consumer into a customer just through a website.
Another online platform used by companies in the top 100 is Social Media. Thus, 87.9% of them have a Facebook page. The importance of this communication channel has increased significantly in recent years, and the context of the pandemic has only accentuated this growth. Given that Facebook was used for a significant number of years as a tool for interaction with consumers by companies in the B2C segment, nowadays more and more companies in the B2B sector choose to develop a communication on this platform. However, there is a difference between owning a page and maintaining constant communication, with only 70.5% of businesses currently active on their Facebook channel.
Perhaps at this point we find the best example for the general principle of online presence: it is not enough for a company to exist online, but it must maintain active, intelligent and useful communication to the consumer. To support businesses in Romania, we have launched a guide to best practices in Facebook, which can ease the transition of organizations into the digital space. Companies in the top 1000 not only use Facebook as a communication tool, but also LinkedIn. Thus, 73.9% of them have a business page on this platform.
In general, Social Media can be an effective tool for companies to enter the online environment, regardless of their size. As direct interaction with consumers becomes a condition for forming and maintaining productive business relationships, platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram are accessible, easy-to-use and effective alternatives for fulfilling it.
The study conducted by Klain reveals a strong acceleration of the transition of the top 1000 companies in Romania in terms of turnover to the digital environment. Even if their sales are not always dependent on their online presence, they are now choosing to take the step towards digitization. Under the current conditions, for small and medium-sized businesses, online existence becomes a necessity, and their opportunity to stand out in this space remains a real possibility. Even if large companies are present online, not all of them carry out active communication based on an intelligent strategy. It is precisely this dichotomy between presence and activity that can be the key to success for a growing business.
