Exploring the Current Status of Digital and Social Media Adoption Across Organizations

annenberg.usc.edu/gapstudy Burghardt Tenderich, Ph. D.

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About GAP ●  Provide organizations with actionable guidance

●  Staff size, organization, functions, budgeting, evaluation, use of agencies, etc.

●  Provide agencies with actionable guidance ●  Client needs, perceptions , relationship models, compensation

trends, etc.

●  Provide academy/researchers with data and analysis, ●  Track perceptions, issues, etc. ●  Identify Indicators of Excellence, Best Practices, etc. ●  Inform curricula

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About GAP VII: Research Team

Jerry Swerling, M.A. Director, PR Studies Director SCPRC

University of Southern California USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center (SCPRC)

Kjerstin Thorson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Research Director, SCPRC

Burghardt Tenderich, Ph.D. Associate Professor Associate Director SCPRC

Niku Ward Brenna Clairr O’Tierney Mia Becker Jessica Wang Yueheng Li M.A. Candidates 2013 Strategic Public Relations, USC

In consultation with:

David Michaelson, Ph.D., Managing Director, Teneo Strategy

Forrest Anderson, MBA, Independent Communications Research and Strategy Consultant

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About GAP VII: Professional Partnerships

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About GAP VII: Methodology/Sample ●  Online survey of top PR/communication

practitioners ●  Collected Qs 3 & 4, 2011 ●  Received more than 1,000 responses ●  Participants selected for inclusion had to pass a

rigorous screening process. Final sample=620 ●  Largest and most comprehensive study to date of

senior-level communication practitioners

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Key Narratives 1.  Budgets 2.  Functions/Responsibilities 3.  Use and management of social media 4.  Measurement and evaluation 5.  Working with agencies 6.  Organization/Reporting 7.  C-Suite perceptions 8.  Culture, character and integration 9.  Excellence/Best practices

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Adoption of Digital/Social Media ●  Provide a new empirical look at the adoption of

digital and social practices across a diverse set of US-based organizations

●  Understanding factors about organizations and practitioners that predict the number and type of new media practices implemented by the organization as a whole

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Digital/Social Tools, Companies: Budgetary Control Department 70% Budgetary Control or Higher

PR/Communication 50%

Marketing 41%

Customer Service 6%

Information Systems 8%

Other 9%

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Digital/Social Tools, Companies: Strategic Control Department 70% Strategic Control or Better

PR/Communication 54%

Marketing 37%

Customer Service 7%

Information Systems 7%

Other 11%

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Budgetary Responsibilities, Corporate Corp. communication/reputation 88% Issues management 58%

Internal communications 80% Community relations 57%

Executive communications 80% Corporate image (logo, etc) 56%

Crisis management 72% Corporate intranet 54%

Social media monitoring 70% Marketing/Product PR 50%

Participation in social media 66% CSR 44%

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Budgetary Responsibilities, Corporate GAP 2009 GAP 2011

Corporate communication 87% 88% Executive communications 74% 80% Internal communications 67% 80% Crisis management 73% 72% Social media monitoring 53% 70% Social media participation 53% 66%

Issues management 47% 58%

Community relations 56% 57%

Corporate external website 54% 55%

Corporate intranet 49% 54%

Marketing/Product PR 61% 50%

More than 50% reporting responsibility in 2011.

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Top 10 Digital/Social Tools Corporate Social Networking Sites 4.7 Blogs 3.52

Sharing Online Videos 4.4 RSS 3.25

SEO 4.4 Tagging 3.00

Twitter 4.3 Co-creation of Content 2.83

Producing Online Videos 4.19 Online Audio 2.64

None higher than 4.7; still much variation in use of digital/social media.

*1=Didn’t use; 7=Used significantly

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Core Digital/Social Tools, Corporate Digital/Social Practice GAP 2009 GAP 2011

Social Networking Sites 3.44 4.75

Sharing Online Videos 4.32 4.48

SEO NA 4.48

Twitter 3.34 4.33

Producing Online Videos NA 4.19

Blogs 2.72 3.52

Defined as above 4.0 average use

1=Didn’t use; 7=Used significantly

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On the Decline, Corporate Digital/Social Practice 2009 2011 Decrease

Wikis 1.96 1.80 -.16

Virtual Worlds (e.g., Second Life) 1.40 1.26 -.14

1=Didn’t use; 7=Used significantly

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Non-Profits Lead Adoption ●  Non-profits lead corporations and government

agencies in adoption of digital and social media

Frequent users by organization type

66% of non-profits

47% of private companies

40% of government agencies

36% of public companies

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Organizational Factors for Adoption ●  Inclusion of the PR function in the dominant

coalition is not positively related to social media adoption

●  Multivariate linear regression yielded that none of the variables that indicate membership in the dominant coalition are significant predictors of social media adoption

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Integration and Adoption ●  Integrated communication is positively related to

new media adoption   Integration of the communication function within the

organization   Horizontal integration of the PR/Communication

function with other departments (legal, HR, etc.)

●  Multivariate linear regression demonstrated that communication integration is a significant and positive predictor of all types of digital media use, as well as the use of social media metrics

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Adoption and Practitioner Attitudes ●  Positive practitioner attitudes toward social media

is positively related to the adoption of social and digital media tools and measurement   Agreeing that social media increasingly pervade all

business functions is an important predictor   Valuing research is an important predictor   Those worried about losing control are less likely to

engage in research practices that could provide valuable strategic insights