the 2013 social business benchmark preliminary findings

L E A D E R NETWORKS

Copyright © 2013 Leader Networks, LLC 1

The Social Business Benchmark ™

Preliminary Study Findings By

Vanessa DiMauro - CEO Leader Networks, SNCR Research Co-Chair

Peter Ward - Managing Partner, Leader Networks


Copyright © 2013 Leader Networks, LLC

The purpose of the Social Business Benchmark Project

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Study what companies are (really) doing with their social business activities and to benchmark organizations readiness for social business & provide future guideposts

Key research questions: • Do companies differentiate social media marketing from

social business? • What is the social strategic intention, operational

alignment, staffing, policy, and governance structures norms for social?



Research Methods

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To explore these questions we did a mixed method research study with support from Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) Study composition:

75 companies participated in this preliminary findings report 25 participated in pilot qualitative interviews between Nov. 2012 – Feb. 2013 The responses came from a range of industries and company sizes but the majority were mainly larger organizations (between 1K to <50K employees) and 62% focused on Business to Business (B2B)

The study is longitudinal – meaning it keeps going on (so please participate if you haven’t already – we need your help!)

http://www.sncr.org/



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For many companies, social media means using a digital megaphone



But, the real opportunity can be found in listening to and interacting with customers

5



The lines between social media marketing & social business often blur

Only half (52%)

differentiate between Social Media Marketing

and

Social Business

within their organization.

6



Less than half (41%) believe that their organizations’ social activities are well defined.

Only 11% believe that their company’s social strategy is being well executed within their organization.

7



47% of organizations are using social data to impact operations

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Companies who reported being high social business achievers typically found the ROI when core operations were guided by talking with their stakeholders (customers, partners etc).

- e.g. fewer defects, faster products and services to market, high innovation outcomes



The Community Management Team works with Marketing and R&D to understand

requirements and then works with members to:

- Test new products or services.

- Participate in focus groups, concept testing, etc.

- Help further define the exact product or service they need.

Marketing / R&D Most Valued Members Product / Service Prototype

Online Community Management Team

Trial & Feedback

Here is an example social business operations



On to the highlights of what we learned…

And be sure to read the study report at http://tinyurl.com/socialbusinesbenchmarkreport

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http://tinyurl.com/socialbusinesbenchmarkreport



Through the data, we were able to develop 4 profiles of the organizational social business journey

1) Socially Present

2) Socially Familiar

3) Socially Enabled

4) Socially Integrated

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“Socially Present”

“Socially Familiar”

“Socially Integrated”

“Socially Enabled”

Design for marketing presence

on the social channel to

communicate information and

ideas online and drive

awareness.

Design for leveraging

information and relationships

gathered through social efforts

in support of key business

functions.

Design for learning about cause

and effect online. “If I do this,

then that will happen….”

Design for operational scale and

efficiencies using social the

centerpiece of most customer-

facing efforts.

Inte

rnally

fo

cu

se

d

Exte

rna

lly fo

cu

se

d

- Organizational Complexity +

Social Business Behavioral Framework



The 6 pillars of social business success

1. Strategic intention

2. Operational alignment

3. Staffing

4. Tool use

5. Governance

6. Organizational readiness

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On to the data drill down of the study findings…

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Strategic Intention: The vision is strong but implementation sometimes falters

17

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Differentiate Social Media from Social

Business

Has a strategic

framework for Social

Integrated Social Media

Strategy development

Integrated Social

Business Strategy

development

Social Media Strategy

Leadership

Social Business Strategy

Leadership

Benchmark

Yes, 48% No, 52% See right

Differentiate

52% of Benchmark participants differentiate Social Media marketing and Social Business.


Copyright © 2013 Leader Networks, LLC 19%

9%

9%

13%

17%

19%

22%

22%

24%

28%

30%

44%

72%

35%

4%

15%

15%

8%

12%

19%

19%

27%

15%

12%

54%

38%

Other

Product Development

Product Marketing

External mgmt consultancy

Our social media tool vendors

Sales

Customer Service

Legal

IT

Our PR or digital agency

Staff

Key cross-functional stakeholders

Marketing

Social Business Strategy

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Strategic Intention: New trend – cross-functional stakeholders are participating

Who participated in the development of your social programs (check all that apply)?

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Operations: Many organizations understand social business drivers

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Social Strategy

Execution

Identification of Social Strategy Drivers

Clearly Defined KPIs

Measure and Report KPIs

Evolve Social Business

Strategy To Business

Needs

KPIs Not Aligned

Rarely Use Social

Outcomes Data

Do Not Measure

Performance

Benchmark 59% 65% 53% 47% 47% 48% 52% 57%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%



Operations: Few believe their organization’s social strategy is well executed

Excellent 11%

Somewhat Well 66%

Not Well 7%

We Do Not Have a Well-Articulated

Strategy 16%

How well is the social strategy being executed within the organization?



2%

13%

16%

20%

22%

27%

29%

40%

69%

69%

Beta test new products or services

Competitive intelligence

If other, please specify

Collaboration with suppliers and / or business partners

Generation of new products / services / ideas

Collaboration within the organization

Better account management / coverage / customer service

Lead generation

Reach / Awareness

Collaboration with customers / clients

What are the primary drivers for your social strategy? (Select the top 3)

Social business

Operations: Focus on social media marketing success drivers

21

Social

media

marketing



Staff Proficiency Social Media Platforms for

Recruiting Useful Intranet

Competitive Differentiator

Benchmark 57% 59% 35% 53%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Staffing: Useful intranets and staff competencies can offer gateways to external social performance

22



Many organizations staff are still experimenting with social skills

23

Many staff using 29%

Select experiments 44%

Trained key personnel

18%

Not using social tools or strategies

9%

What is the level of staff proficiency with social skills?



Governance: millennial and executives more satisfied with social policies than management, when policy exists

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Social Media Policy Guidelines

Millenial Satisfaction with

Policy

Management Satisfaction with

Policy

Executive Satisfaction with

Policy

Communication with External Constituents

Benchmark 34% 45% 38% 44% 53%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%



25

Governance: Social media policy guidelines

Formal Written Policy

and Trained Staff 21%

Formal Written Policy

17%

Unwritten Policy 33%

No Policy 29%

What is the state of your social media policy guidelines? Policy trends

• Focus on do’s and don’t over enabling opportunity

• Typically not revised frequently to account for emerging technologies

• Rarely enforced • Select orgs train and focus on

developing social competencies • Crisis communications planning on

the rise • Social media policies need to

extend to social business behaviors (e.g. with suppliers)



Tools: Current focus is on broadcast over engagement

26 18%

22%

16%

29%

22%

16%

33%

40%

56%

42%

73%

76%

69%

11%

18%

18%

22%

22%

22%

27%

29%

38%

40%

49%

53%

58%

Social games

Internal collaboration tools (Yammer)

Social CR platform

Public social content sharing (Pintrest, Flickr)

Participation or sponsorship of online community that company does not run

Private label online community platforms (Jive, Telligent)

Company sponsored video channel

Company sponsored online community

Blog platform

Mobile applications

Public selective platforms (Facebook, G+)

Public social networks (Twitter, YouTube)

Public professional social networking platforms (LinkedIn)

Which social platforms do your company use?

To engage with customers or prospects

To extend the brand



36%

46%

18%

Consistently

Sometimes

Never

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Use Social Media Platforms to Recruit Useful Intranet

Question: Does the organization use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to recruit qualified staff?

Question: Does your organization have a useful Intranet for inter-company collaboration?

Tools: Social is a strong recruiting tool, but not as frequently used for knowledge management activities

7%

25%

30%

39%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

No - Difficult to Use

No - Not well used

No - Do Not Have

Yes



Organizational Readiness Maturity

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• Almost half of respondents leverage social data to impact core operations, but strategy and funding lag

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Strategy Embraced by Management

Budget Dedicated to Social Projects

Future Budget for Social Projects

Leverage Social Data to Impact Core Operations

Benchmark



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Organizational Readiness: About half report management embrace their organizations social strategy

Strategies to support management

• Align social strategy with strategic objectives

• Identify business process accelerators that social business could support (e.g. customer support, new product development)

• Follow the pain – look for solutions to evergreen business problems

• Develop strong business driven KPI and performance metrics

• Invest in social education for management (e.g. reverse mentoring programs)

Yes, 52% In Part,

48%

No, 0%

Is your social strategy embraced by management?

While almost half report management support for social strategy, additional behavioral indicators suggest that management buy-in is not as strong as perceived.



30

Organizational Readiness: Almost half report using or leveraging social data to impact core operations

Yes 47%

No 39%

I Don't Know 14%

Does your organization use or leverage social data to impact core operations (customer care, R&D etc.)?

Current Concentration: • Marketing • Technical Support • Customer Satisfaction Future Plans: • Research and Development • New Product / Solutions • Sales • Supplier/Distributor • Competitive Intelligence



For more information on this study

Vanessa DiMauro

CEO, Leader Networks

617-484-0778

[email protected]

The survey remains open for participation – please add your (confidential) voice:

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?86A2CED484CCD6D480

Read the study report at http://www.slideshare.net/vdimauro/social-business-benchmark-report

We offer individualized social business benchmarks for organizations who want to examine their strengths and opportunities for improvement.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?86A2CED484CCD6D480

http://www.slideshare.net/vdimauro/social-business-benchmark-report










About Us

Leader Networks

Leader Networks is a research and strategy consulting group focused on helping organizations build deeper B2B relationships with key stakeholders, thus creating significant competitive advantage and outstanding business results. We guide firms in the strategic use and deployment of online social platforms and techniques, including developing innovative ways to listen to, learn about, interact with and build trust across a wide range of constituencies including prospective and current customers, suppliers, partners, and employees.

http://www.leadernetworks.com

About SNCR

The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and education foundation and think tank founded in 2005 to focus on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society.

http://www.sncr.org

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http://www.leadernetworks.com/

http://www.sncr.org/



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the 2013 social business benchmark preliminary findings

Business

d e r networks copyright

social data

social business activities

high social business

social strategic intention

companys social strategy

llc research methods

study report