1. The state of social media and how
to win over the C-suite
Brian Solis, Principal Analyst
Social Business 2014

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

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

4. The State of Social Business

5. 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)
33%
67%
22%
78%
Not yet Yes, at the corporate level and/or division level
2011
2013

6. 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.

7. Dedicated Social Media Teams grow in size
Role Average # Employees 2011 Average # 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 15.6
Source: 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.)

9. Most enterprises characterize themselves as
Intermediate in social business maturity
6%
25% 26% 26%
14%
3%
Stage 1:
Planning
Stage 2:
Presence
Stage 3:
Engagement
Stage 4:
Formalized
Stage 5:
Strategic
Stage 6:
Converged
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)

10. Social data aids marketers across the entire
customer journey
88%
59%
41%
68%
59%
Awareness: Customer or
prospects' awareness of
our brand, product, or
service
Consideration: Customer
or prospects' evaluation
process, of our brand and
our competitors
Transaction/Conversion:
Impact on transaction or
conversion
Experience: Customer's
experience with the
product or service,
including customer
service
Loyalty: Potential for
customers' experience to
create brand affinity,
advocacy, loyalty
Q. At which of the following points is social data used to better understand
your customers' decision making process? (Select all that apply)
Source: Altimeter Group Survey of Digital Strategists, Q2-3 2013 (n=35)

11. 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?
18%
19%
24%
45%
45%
53%
29%
37%
35%
26%
23%
23%
52%
42%
39%
29%
29%
21%
Innovation: Increase in product R&D
and innovation
Operational Efficiency: Reduction in
company expenses, e.g. customer…
Revenue Generation: Increase in
actual product revenue, leads,…
Brand Health: Improvement in
attitudes, conversation, and behavior…
Customer Experience: Improvement in
relationship with customers,…
Marketing Optimization: Improvement
in effectiveness of marketing programs
We have formalized
metrics that show
positive 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%
Source: Altimeter Group Survey of Digital Strategists, Q2-3 2013 (n=65)

12. With social business comes inherent challenges.

14. 52%
Top executives who are informed, engaged, and
aligned with their company’s social strategy
Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.14

15. At least 13 different business units may deploy social media
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%
0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0%
Market Research
Legal
Executive
IT
Customer/User experience
Advertising
Product development/R&D
HR
Social Media
Digital
Customer Support
Corporate Communications/PR
Marketing
"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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. The Data Disconnect

19. More than 80% have yet to fully integrate social
data with other enterprise data sets
7%
11%
45%
36%
Yes, it is deeply integrated
with 4+ data sets
Yes, it is deeply integrated
with 1-3 data sets
No, it is not integrated but
we view it in conjunction
with other data
No, it is completely
separate at this time
Q. Do you currently integrate social data with other enterprise data within your
business?
Source: Altimeter Group Survey of Digital Strategists, Q2-3 2013 (n=62)

20. 29%Companies that measure the financial
impact of their social media efforts
Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.20Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.

21. 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.

22. 37%Companies that rate their employees’
knowledge of social media usage and
related policies as “poor” or “very poor”
Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.22Source: Altimeter Group. Social Business Survey, Q4 2012.

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

24. Social Media is less about
technology and more about people

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

26. More than 88% of consumers are influenced by other
consumers’ online comments. Source: Econsultancy.com

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

28. 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

29. 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

32. 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.

33. Successful social businesses drive
results through transformation.

35. 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

36. Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy

37. 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?

38. 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).

39. 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.

40. 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.

41. 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.

42. 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.

43. 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.

44. 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

45. The promise of social business is
how we introduce people back into
business…
It’s how we work
It’s how we communicate
It’s how we collaborate
It’s how we connect
It’s how we build community and relationships

46. It’s no longer about B2B or B2C
Social business introduces the 5th P
into the marketing mix to usher in
an era of P2P –
People to People

47. 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.