Look Ma, No Hands: More Than Half Of Companies Say They Are Using Social Media With No Strategy

While 78% percent of corporate respondents say their company is using social media, only 41% say they have a strategic plan in place to guide such activity, according to a new study from marketing firm Digital Brand Expressions.

Of those companies that have some semblance of a social media strategy, 94% say that marketing activities are included in the plan; 71% said public relations were factored into the equation; and 55% say that they use social media for sales-related activities.

"It's fairly well established that social media is a channel that businesses must participate in, leaving CEOs with the new challenge of planning and implementing brand aligned initiatives enterprise-wide," said Veronica Fielding, president and CEO of Digital Brand Expressions.

Even for the firms that do have a strategic plan in place, only 29% reported distributing policies and/or communications protocols to employees via social channels. "This leaves the majority of organizations exposed to problems arising from employees saying the wrong things in the wrong ways to the wrong people at the wrong time," according to the report.

Meanwhile, most companies appear to be shooting from the hip, with no cohesive game plan or measurement systems in place. Even among those with a plan, few have written policies and communications protocols in place, leaving the organization exposed to problems arising out of employees communicating in ways that inadvertently hurt -- rather than help -- their company brands.

Among those companies that are presently executing social media plans, 69% have set up metrics/tracking methods to measure ROI of such activities, while 71% plan for ongoing monitoring of brand reputation across the social media landscape.

Another 71% claim to be preparing and distributing protocols and policies for ongoing communications, including how to respond to positive/negative comments on social media Web sites.

Also of note, the majority -- 74% -- of respondents said their marketing departments should be responsible for the creation and maintenance of all strategic social media plans. About half -- 51% -- said their corporate communications team should be in charge of such efforts, while 28% said their executive team should lead all social efforts.

Of the 100 companies that DBE surveyed in May, the majority -- 49% -- were made up of less than 50 employees; 32% had 50-999 employees; and 19% were made up of more than 1,000 employees.

Note, 6/23: This last statistic has been amended from a previously published version.

14 comments about "Look Ma, No Hands: More Than Half Of Companies Say They Are Using Social Media With No Strategy".
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  1. Stewart Wills from stewartwills.com, June 23, 2010 at 7:32 a.m.

    Not sure, but I'm guessing that, in the last sentence, the phrase "32% were made of us 50-99 employees" should actually be "32% were made up of 50-999 employees."

  2. Jonathan Mirow from BroadbandVideo, Inc., June 23, 2010 at 11:46 a.m.

    That's because Social Media is just the guestbook of 2010. Or maybe the "flash intro" movie. Or maybe the RSS feed. These were all going to be be huge - but turned out ot be nothing. Three years from now we'll be looking back on the over-advertised, uber marketed wasteland that will be Facebook and Twitter and we'll wonder what the fuss was all about. Want to see the kind of digital garbage-heap these two "essential marketing tools" will look like? Go visit MySpace.

  3. Ryan Alley from Passenger, June 23, 2010 at 1:18 p.m.

    This is a startling statistic, yet far too often we hear companies say “Let’s do social media” without considering the objectives and desired outcomes. There is often no measure of success and even less time spent considering what the customer will get out of the initiatives being proposed. Twitter, Facebook pages, YouTube channels and private online communities serve very different purposes and it is increasingly important for social strategies to be appropriately matched with the brand.

    Social media allows you bridge the gap between brands and their customers and build an army of advocates. Unfortunately, if these attempts to connect with consumers go horribly wrong you have also provided tools for consumers to amplify a negative message across the web. Rather than blindly casting a wide net, then scrambling when a “social attack” happens, brands need to take a preemptive approach to their social media efforts. If you want to ensure the user experience is meeting your customers’ expectations, start by going right to the source. Brands must consider their objectives and their audience before diving into the social media game, and can use social media tools, such as private online communities, to “test” campaigns and ideas on a smaller scale before they launch to the masses.

  4. Jordyn Haas from NetElixir, June 23, 2010 at 1:39 p.m.

    It helps to have an objective in mind when you launch a social media campaign instead of following a need to jump on the bandwagon. It's a tough place to start for many companies, especially small businesses.

  5. Steve Murthey from Murthey Enterprises, June 23, 2010 at 3:03 p.m.

    Strategy alignment to business objectives and goals is one of the first things I look at when developiong a social media plan. Only if you define the vision of the social media initiative to align with corporate strategy, business and financial goals (ROI and measures) and objectives of the initiative, can you know if you are successful. Often also left out is the identification of documentation, decision making, ownership, policies, roles and responsibilities as related to the social media initiative.

    Target membership and desired interaction, acquisition (marketing) and retention, member ROI, and competition (other communities, other calls for target membership attention).

  6. Mark allen Roberts from Out of the Box Solutions, LLC, June 23, 2010 at 7:23 p.m.

    that's because they are being led by what I refer to as "smores" in blog http://nosmokeandmirrors.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/20-top-entrepreneurial-best-practices-to-insure-2010-is-a-profitable-year/ and click on number 15.

    Mark Allen Roberts

  7. Gregory Yankelovich from Amplified Analytics Inc, June 24, 2010 at 7:33 a.m.

    Technology to business is often like toys to children - most fascinated by it, but can't figure it's utility. User generated content and connections are the primary currency of social media, therefore it is not really about technology and everything about utility.

  8. Roger Hilleboe from Post Modern Marketing, June 24, 2010 at 2:22 p.m.

    Social Marketing to those who don't participate personally is like Quantum Physics, senior, read older, marketing executives, especially at large, non technology firms such as automobile manufacturers, all know the term but have no idea what it means or how to utilize it. So they keep pushing it down the personnel ladder until it stops at the lowest rung, where in fact, the most expertise may reside but the individual now responsible has no clue as to his firm's business and marketing objectives and is therefore left to determine alone how social marketing should fit into the mix. Ad agencies, don't you think these statistics indicate a huge potential revenue stream? So jump on it or before individual consultants like myself do.

  9. Kelly Monroe from Brief Attention Span, June 24, 2010 at 4:50 p.m.


    As an IT consultant I am fully aware that IT management is struggling with whether social media is productive or obstructive for companies and their employees. Software is being developed and policy and restrictions are being decided everyday by IT managers. The security of company networks are at stake but the potential for innovation using social media is a large enough carrot for the discussion of how to properly utilize the medium continues. Palo Alto networks came up with a whitepaper, http://bit.ly/d2NZRp, which will explore the issues surrounding social media in the workplace. It is important to not only understand the immediate benefits of doing business how one lives, but the threat it presents to a company's greater ROI and productivity when it comes to the server's safety and security.
    There's also new whitpapers about securing and managing facebook and sharepoint: http://bit.ly/bsrh9CFacebook http://bit.ly/94MFMBSharePoint

  10. Veronica Fielding from Digital Brand Expressions, June 27, 2010 at 7:40 p.m.

    Glad to see the survey results are generating discussion here.

    We see a real need for the entire organization to be involved in the discussion on how social media can be safely and productively leveraged for departments including and beyond the marketing areas of companies.

    As an engagement channel, social media will be around for a long time and, like the rest of the Web, will continue to evolve. But if, how, when and other questions need to be asked--and answered--by organizations before they launch and manage social media communications programs they can measure.

  11. Richard Tso from Spigit, June 28, 2010 at 12:45 p.m.

    While somewhat alarming that most companies do not have a formal social media strategy in place, it is not surprising. We at Spigit work with Global 2000 companies to help them formulate a comprehensive social strategy from campaign onset.

    As part of our idea management software platform, we offer kick-off meetings, ongoing community management and monthly status reports which monitors progress and helps map social goals with over-arching company business objectives.

    If you would like to learn more, visit www.spigit.com or contact me at: richard@spigit.com.

    Thanks!
    -Richard L. Tso

  12. Eric Steckel from Turnpike Digital, June 30, 2010 at 6:39 p.m.

    This is no-doubt true, and I think that one of the major problems is that it's relatively easy to setup the Social Media foundation. As a result, companies make the knee-jerk reaction to enter into the Social Media realm without any real strategy. As a result, no one is awake at the wheel and at best, it's a modest waste of time and resources; at worst, a communications crisis results from its misuse.

    Social Media should be part of an Integrated Marketing Mix, a PR Mix, a customer service and engagement Mix etc... but if a plan and an ongoing commitment are not mapped out, it's really just a waste.

    As we create online video content for our clients, we urge them to strategize how they are going to promote and distribute the piece, and help them setup or manage the social media element of the mix in order to maximize their visibility and target their audience. As we enter into the dialogue, many are unable to answer our queries effectively. The results of this study come as no surprise.

  13. Karen Zimmerman, July 16, 2010 at 11:45 a.m.

    Social Media is becoming a necessity in every company's marketing plan. Two-thirds of the internet population visit a social network. We here at You Social see a growing need for company's visibility through social media. We specialise in social media sites for companies and more and more companies are seeing the returns. If marketed properly, social media is a powerful means for a company to increase sales.

  14. Christie Adams from SaleSpider.com, July 16, 2010 at 3:39 p.m.

    @Johnathan_Mirow I have to disagree with you. Yesterday's "essential marketing tools" didn't end up in the digital garbage heap because they were ineffective, they fell out of use because social media itself evolved.

    Will there be more digital extinctions in the future? Yes-but only because social media itself is alive, well, and evolving all the time.

    Wise is the company that begins to use it-and creates a plan to use it well.

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