By Rebecca Canan
Over the last year or so, we at CEC have seen social media participation become far more common among member companies. That said, we’ve also noticed a tendency of communicators to jump on social media opportunities without applying much strategic discipline—that is, they weren’t matching up social media’s unique capabilities with their business needs, audience behaviors, and industry dynamics. In response, CEC developed a social media diagnostic that helps members pinpoint their best opportunities for social media use.
As part of this diagnostic, we ask a few benchmarking questions of participants: for example, how many people work on social media at your company? What channels are you using? How confident are you in the value of your efforts? We’re pleased to share the top-line data from our 60+ participants thus far:
I was surprised by a few things in this data set:
1. Only 50% of companies have an employee social media use policy. Really? Really?!? I find it hard to believe that only half of the respondents have a policy. As I’ve said before, this puts employees in a bad position (they make innocent mistakes due to limited judgment) and increases legal and reputation risk levels for the company. CEC members, if you’re in that dangerous 50% without a policy, you can access a policy template and examples here.
2. About 80% of companies have between 2–5 employees (full and partial) working on social media. With small teams and stretched budgets, this is a somewhat chunky investment for the function. Communicators clearly know that social media is something they need to explore.
3. Yet, communicators do not believe that their social media activities are driving business results. When asked if their activities are driving value, most respondents fall somewhere between “Strongly Disagree” and “Neutral.” Yikes! If you fall in a similar spot on the confidence spectrum, I’d particularly recommend taking the diagnostic to pinpoint your best opportunities to add value. CEC members can get started with the Social Media Opportunity Diagnostic here.
Anyone else see a data point that’s unexpected? How do you compare to the results?
on 19 March 2010
Respond
Jones Lang LaSalle recently conducted a survey on social media use in conjunction with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) among ULI members.
Although there were only a few responses, it was interesting to note that 69% said “it’s definitely valuable” in their personal life. Meanwhile, half of respondents said their organisation was active in the space, yet no one sees it delivering real value to their business. At least not so far…
It appears to reflect Geoffrey Moore’s famous “crossing the chasm” model–but in the reverse direction: from a mass-market phenomenon, embraced by individuals, to adoption for specialised institutional use.
Follow this link for a write-up of the social media session at ULI’s annual Eruopean coference and more about the Urban Land Insititute: http://www.uli.org/sitecore/content/ULI2Home/Events/EventArchives/Paris/Paris2010/Annual.aspx
Brant Long, Global Brand Director, Jones Lang LaSalle