brian solis

The state of social media and how to win over the C-suite

Brian Solis, Principal AnalystSocial Business 2014

Social business is here and it’s only becoming more important.

The question is, do we realize how important it really is?

The State of Social Business

That percentage (of companies with a dedicated social media team) has increased in the last two years

Q. Does your company have a dedicated social media team that serves the entire company or division as a shared resource?

Source: Altimeter Group Survey of Digital Strategists, Q2-3 2013 (n=65); and Q2 2011 (n=144)

Not yet Yes, at the corporate level and/or division

level

33%

67%

22%

78%

20112013

79% of companies have a dedicated team to serving social (at the corporate and/or division level)

43%

14%

22%

22%Yes, at the corporate level

Yes, at the division level

Yes, at the corporate and division level

Not yet

Q. Does your company have a dedicated social media team that serves the entire company or division as a shared resource?

Source: Altimeter Group Survey of Digital Strategists, Q2-3 2013 (n=65); Percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Dedicated Social Media Teams grow in size

RoleAverage # Employees

2011Average # Employees

2013

Social Strategist 1.5 1.6

Business Unit Liaison 1.5 1.7

Content Strategist N/A 1.7

Education/Training Manager .5 0.8

Community Manager 3 2.5

Web Developer 1.5 3.4

Social Media Manager 2 2.2

Social Analyst 1 1.6

Total 11 15.6Source: Altimeter Group Survey of Digital Strategists, Q2-3 2013 (n=51); ; and Q2 2011 (n=93)

Q. How many full-time or full-time equivalent employees make up this dedicated social media team? (Answer for the team(s) you are most familiar with.)

Most enterprises characterize themselves as Intermediate in social business maturity

6%

25% 26% 26%

14%

3%

Q. How would you characterize where your organization is in its social business evolution?

Source: Altimeter Group Survey of Digital Strategists, Q2-3 2013 (n=65)

Social data aids marketers across the entire customer journey

88%

59%

41%

68%59%

Q. At which of the following points is social data used to better understand your customers' decision making process? (Select all that apply)


Social Business Program a primary driver of brand experience improvement

Q. Which of the following outcomes can you attribute to your social business program in the last 12 months?

Innovation: Increase in product R&D and innovation

Revenue Generation: Increase in actual product revenue, leads, conversions

Customer Experience: Improvement in relationship with customers, experience with brand

18%

19%

24%

45%

45%

53%

29%

37%

35%

26%

23%

23%

52%

42%

39%

29%

29%

21%We have formalized metrics that show posi-tive outcomes

We have not been able to tie this to positive outcomes

We do not formally measure this yet

53%

45%

45%

24%

19%

18%


With social business comes inherent challenges.

52% Top executives who are informed, engaged, and aligned with their company’s social strategy

Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.14

At least 13 different business units may deploy social media

Market Research

Executive

Customer/User experience

Product development/R&D

Social Media

Customer Support

Marketing

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0%

7.8%9.4%10.9%

14.1%14.8%

16.4%16.4%

28.9%35.2%36.7%

39.8%65.6%

73.4%

"In which of the following departments are there dedicated people (can be less than one FTE) executing social?"

Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, 2012.

26% Companies that approach social media holistically, with business units operating against an enterprise vision and strategy

Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.16Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.

34% Social marketers who agree that their organizations use clear metrics to associate social activities with business outcomes

Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.

The Data Disconnect

More than 80% have yet to fully integrate social data with other enterprise data sets

7%11%

45%

36%

Q. Do you currently integrate social data with other enterprise data within your business?


29% Companies that measure the financial impact of their social media efforts


27% Companies that say their employees are aware and trained on their company’s social media usage policies

Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.

37% Companies that rate their employees’ knowledge of social media usage and related policies as “poor” or “very poor”


If you want to bring about the true promise of social media…stop talking about social media

Social Media is less about technology and more about people

Meet Generation-C…they’re not just social, they live a digital lifestyle.

More than 88% of consumers are influenced by other consumers’ online comments.

Source: Econsultancy.com

One social customer will tell 42 people about an experience they have had with a company. Source:

AmericanExpress

88% of consumers are less likely to buy from companies that ignore complaints and questions on social media

Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.28Source: Salesforce.com

Loyal customers that engage with companies over social media spend 20% to 40% more money with those companies than other customers.

As consumption habits shift, brands require media ubiquity

Source: Bain & Company

Martha Hayward, VP Social Media for Fidelity Investments

In the future, there shouldn’t be a “social strategy;”

there will just be a strategy for customer experience.

Successful social businesses drive results through transformation.

The first and most principled thing to do is a “voice of the customer” study.

How can you decide what to do in social if you don’t understand what

your customers do with it?

Andy Markowitz, Director of Global Strategy for GE

Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy

Success Factor #1: Define the Overall Business Goals

Explore how social media strategies create direct or ancillary impact on business objectives. What are you trying to accomplish, and how does it communicate value to those who don’t understand social?

Success Factor #2: Establish the Long-Term Vision

Articulate a vision for becoming a social business and the value that will be realized internally among stakeholders and externally to customers (and shareholders).

Success Factor #3: Get Executive Support

Social media often exists in its own marketing silo. At some point, it must expand to empower the rest of the business. To scale takes the support of key executives and their interests lie in business value and priorities.

Success Factor #4: Define the Strategy Roadmap and Identify Initiatives

Once you have your vision and you’re in alignment on business goals, you need a plan that helps you bring everything to life. A strategic social business roadmap looks out three years and aligns business goals with social media initiatives across the organization.

Success Factor #5: Establish Governance and Guidelines

Who will take responsibility for social strategy and lead the development of an infrastructure to support it? You’ll need help. Form a ‘hub” or CoE to prioritize initiatives, tackle guidelines and processes, and assign roles and responsibilities.

Success Factor #6: Secure Staffing, Resources, and Funding

Determine where resources are best applied now and over the next three years. Think scale among agencies but also internally to continually take your strategy and company to the next level. Train staff on vision, purpose, business value creation, and metrics/reporting to ensure a uniform approach as you grow business value and priorities.

Success Factor #7: Invest in Technology That Supports Objectives

Ignore the shiny object syndrome. Resist significant investments until you better understand how social technology enables or optimizes your strategy.

1) Be clear on what you want the outcome to be, and then structure support properly.

2) Invest in people and resources to make sure it’s not a one-time hit. Only take on as much as you can continue to actively support.

3) Tie it to what’s core to your company and for the consumer in your space.

Julie Bornstein, SVP Digital, Sephora

The promise of social business is how we introduce people back into business…

It’s how we workIt’s how we communicateIt’s how we collaborateIt’s how we connectIt’s how we build community and relationships

It’s no longer about B2B or B2CSocial business introduces the 5th P into the marketing mix to usher in an era of P2P – People to People

Return on Experience:The future of marketing and engagement lies in creating shareable experiences – It starts with a vision, mission, and a purpose. This becomes the core of what you will fight for.

Brian Solis

[email protected]

briansolis.com

Twitter: @briansolis

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