Survey: 86 Percent of All People Don't Know the Plan Comes First

The results of a new study from SmartBrief about social media use by business are in. As studies go, you will need to dig a little into the data -- and think about what it means -- to get value out of the information.

According to SmartBrief, the responses from more than 6,000 business people uncovered eight themes:

(1.) Most companies surveyed have adopted social media in the past 18 months.

That is the reason why they subscribe to SmartBrief in the first place, they are thinking about social and how they can utilize it to market their business. After sitting on the sidelines waiting for this thing to blow over, many organizations are jumping in.

(2.) Companies are focusing their energies on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogs.

Not surprisingly, the tools that are talked about the most, are the ones used the most. I don't have a copy of the study, just the advance promotional teaser. However, the study seems to also say that most strategies are developed in house. We just discussed how much of the free advice revolves around generic topics and mainstream tools.

I cannot help thinking also about mass marketing mindset -- those are the platforms with large numbers of people using them.

(3.) It takes time for companies to incorporate social media effectively.

It does, indeed. And even the organizations willing to wait to get results eventually get itchy. It used to happen with print ads and other marketing messaging -- companies changed them because they were sick of them, and those times coincided with when people started liking or recognizing the messaging.

(4.) Brand building is currently the primary purpose for business social-media usage.

Pay attention to this data point because a few lines later, there is a statistic around ROI that contradicts this goal. Is awareness the primary goal, then or is it other business outcomes? This matters when we look at themes 7 & 8. What they both say is, the 15% who do set metrics and tie goals to objectives are satisfied (the 14.2% in number 8).

And, despite the primary goals of increasing brand awareness and building communities for customers and fans, the majority of companies surveyed use social media to broadcast information instead of creating two-way conversations.

(5.) Communications, advertising and marketing agencies are the leading adopters of social media.

Communications and PR agencies recognized the potential behind social media earlier than most industries. Likewise, advertising and marketing firms have realized the potential of identifying and reaching target audiences relatively early as compared with other industries.

Despite their early presence in social media, communications and PR firms are not the chosen source of advice or consultation on social media for companies. Instead, the majority of companies are using internal resources for developing and implementing their social-media strategies.

(6.) Lack of management support and confidentiality concerns are atop the list of obstacles to social-media adoption.

One-third of the respondents note they are not decision makers. Combined with the 14.7% citing management resistance, this indicates an overall lack of management support. In addition, 33.1% cite confidentiality issues as a primary obstacle.

Taken together with the prohibition of social-network use at work, the data show that many companies are concerned about how their staff would use these sites.

(7.) Fewer than 15% of the businesses using social media are measuring return-on-investment.

Among those innovators who are measuring social media, most focus on usage and incoming traffic but not traditional business metrics. And I would add that often separate efforts within the same organization are not connected with each other.

Thus resulting in questions like who owns social? What is the process for accomplishing xyz? How are we going to sustain demands on time and resources? And so on.

(8.) While 60% of respondents say their companies are using social media, there is low confidence in their social-media strategies.

Only 14.2% of businesses find their social-media strategies to be “very effective” – and only 7.3% consider them “very revenue generating.” Dare I say these 14% or so are the same who establish goals and metrics and then measure against them?

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What about you and your organization? What is holding you back? Do you see some of the same challenges reflected in this study?

 

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Comments

[Eric Pratum]

At my last agency, it was a lot easier to measure social media ROI. A lot of the work we did was of a customer service nature. Someone asked how to fix Product X in some random forum? Our folks would be there to help. Another person complained on Twitter about Product Y. Our folks were there to respond. Since it was CS-focused, we could weigh the costs of 500, 1000, etc people being helped quickly by a single person online versus those same people calling a CS hotline and being helped one at a time.

Now, working with nonprofits, the ROI calculations are a lot less distinct, and to be honest, many nonprofits are not particularly concerned with that in my experience. They are concerned with the 4th point above, brand building. If there are defined brand building opportunities, they're in. If not, they'll wait and see.

As a result of this, I have to say that...If you're looking toward social media for brand building opportunities, upfront research and strategy are indispensable, and I'm not saying that like the normal, "No marketing without strategy." I'm saying that you cannot have any real idea of what your social media brand building opportunities are if you don't research them. Without the research, you're just throwing resources around in the dark and hoping you hit something.

[Patrick Prothe]

Your headline is definitely an attention grabber but I'm not surprised. I think many companies also don't thoughtfully plan out their marketing activities. They're reactive vs. proactive. And don't always take a long-term view. How many companies REALLY measure the ROI of their marketing, understanding exactly how much each lead costs; each sale?

In #imcchat we talk about the importance and benefits of integrated marketing campaigns. And connecting marketing with customer service. Again, few companies seem to do this.

As for social media, I'd guess that companies don't know where to turn, how to find /evaluate a good agency. So many practitioners talk a lot of hype without knowing how to deliver the goods. So companies dabble. React. Leave social to the most eager in their company. As a result they don't budget for it either. It's scary. It's daunting. How do you sell it? Where do you start? Skepticism from IT and across an organization can hinder a proactive plan.

Perhaps that'll change as the field matures. The other factor I believe is shiny tool syndrome. Rather than do the planning (because of lack of knowledge, strategy, etc.), it's easy to get caught up in the next big thing, focusing on the tools rather than a holistic approach.

Interesting study, but somehow I'm not surprised.

[Kevin Donnellon]

Great information. I find that my clients and prospects try to hard to "control" social media like mainstream marketing efforts. Then they wonder why they get limited results. Still tough convincing them that conversations over great content yield success (measurable).

[Brian Driggs]

Managers manage. They command and control and, in the end, they get by.

Leaders lead. They trust, inspire, and excel.

Managers see everyone raving about social media and feel they need to get into the game, lest they lose control. Control is important to managers.

Leaders, on the other hand, are raving about social media because they know their organizations are NOTHING without their customers, that what they make/offer is not nearly as important as HOW they make/offer it, and they can clearly see being social on even terms with the market makes it easier than ever before to serve.

[Ike]

Valeria --

I don't know that a corporation's "pilot projects" should be subjected to the same scrutiny. Yes, you ought to be measuring, and you ought to have an idea what you're going to do, but the Pilots typically are designed to either answer questions about HOW these techs can be implemented and potentially sustainable; and maybe to discover previously unknown opportunities or side benefits.

I wonder how much the results would change if we segregated out the explicit Pilot Projects from the freelancing cowboys?

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Eric - even a pilot program should have a reason for existing. How do you know if you succeeded without a plan, baseline, and metrics? Good example and comparison.

@Patrick - if social media is to move beyond the hype, it needs some rigor, just like the rest of the business functions. As you point out, it suffers a little bit from lack of planning and the reactive nature of the disciplines that are, how shall we put it, undisciplined.

@Kevin - it is hardly time to throw down a set of rules, and success often comes from trying a combination of things even with regular marketing.

@Brian - we'll need to start somewhere. And I have met some managers who had their heart and priorities in the right place, which is good news.

@Ike - would Pilots not need to eventually inform a plan? In my experience, which I'm ready to admit is not universal, Pilots are not explicitly set up with an intent to learn, measure, figure out what works... unless there is that kind of oversight and willingness to kill something that is not working, they're more free-wheeling.