Social Media in Retail
SoSocial
Contents I. Social Media is not a ‘buzz-word’ anymore ......................................................................................... 3 Consumers are changing and becoming increasingly ‘social’ ............................................................. 3 Social media helps connect with all the key stakeholders ................................................................. 8 Adoption by Fortune 500 suggests industry-wide acceptance......................................................... 13 Corporate Blogs............................................................................................................................. 14 Corporate Twitter Accounts .......................................................................................................... 15 Corporate Facebook Pages ........................................................................................................... 16 YouTube and Pinterest.................................................................................................................. 18 II. Social media and Retail have some inherent synergies .................................................................... 19 Current adoption rates suggest tremendous clout .......................................................................... 19 Expert and Industry comments are corroborative ........................................................................... 21 Case examples establish success potential ....................................................................................... 22 Zappos ........................................................................................................................................... 22 Best Buy ........................................................................................................................................ 23 III. Implementation Strategy ................................................................................................................. 24 Identification and achievement of Key Success Factors (KSF) .......................................................... 25 Measurement and mitigation of risks............................................................................................... 26 Continuous measurement of benefits and suitable course-correction ............................................ 27 IV. Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 28
I. Social Media is not a ‘buzz-word’ anymore Social media refers to the information and communication technology platforms designed for realtime social interaction, such as wikis, discussion forums and blogs. These platforms are available on public sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Pinterest and private sites such as Jive and Yammer.
Social media is used by more than a billion individuals of all ages to communicate on almost everything: personal life, product reviews, shopping experience, recruitment and so on. On an average, social media users spend more than 10 billion minutes on Facebook, watch almost 4 billion videos on YouTube, and send about 340 million tweets everyday. These numbers are projected to increase in future, not just because of the increasing user base but also thanks to the increasing penetration of smart-phones and media tablets that allow users to remain connected to internet even when mobile.
Consumers are changing and becoming increasingly ‘social’ Globally, there were about 1.1 billion social media users at the end of 2012. These users are estimated to grow at a minimum CAGR of 7% between 2013 and 2016, resulting in almost half of worldwide internet users being present on some social media platform by 2016. This makes social media all pervasive, and a very important and promising communication and feedback medium for corporations.
2.21
2011
2012
1.46
1.34
1.24
1.09
0.97
2.63
2.42
2013E
2014E
Total Social Media Users (billions)
3.04
2.96
2.77
1.52
2015E
2016E
Worldwide Internet users (billions)
Source: Gartner Currently, most users use social media platforms for connecting with friends & family, thereby sharing photographs, status updates and videos. About a fourth of them, however, have started using these platforms to connect with companies, to access product reviews, to look for retail promotions, to research products/services and more, which makes it immensely pertinent for the companies to have a presence on disparate social media channels.
To catch up with family and friends
94%
To share photographs or videos
51%
To co-ordinate parties or other shard activities
33%
To get information on news and current events
27%
To find out about entertainment events such as bands
23%
To find out about particular brands or businesses
22%
To follow particular brands/businesses to access‌
18%
To play games
18%
To research products/services you might want to buy
16%
To meet new friends
14%
To find people with the same interests that you have
13%
To research holiday destinations or travel offers
13%
Because of pressure from family/friends to use them
11%
To follow celebrities To engage with a Government‌ To provide reviews/write blogs about products you‌ To find potential dates
9% 7% 6% 3%
Source: Australian interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA)
Social media users are increasingly showing a tendency to remain connected 24x7. For instance, a user may want to read reviews of a restaurant he is heading towards, another may want to upload his photograph instantly on the social sites or and yet another may wish to ‘accept’ an invite to connect professionally on a certain site. It is a common site to see scores of users connected to the web using their smartphones as they commute, eat or wait for their friends at a local hangout spot. Increasingly therefore, while computer still remains most adopted device to connect to social media, users’ persistent need to stay connected round the clock has led to exploding usage of smartphones and other portable devices Series1 Series2
97% 94%
46% 37% 16% 3% Computer
Mobile Phone
Tablet
7% 7%
3% 4%
2% 4%
2% 3%
Handheld Music Player
Game Console
Internet Enabled Television
E-Reader
Source: Nielsen Other smart devices like internet-enabled TV, Game consoles, e-readers that have web connectivity too have made social media accessible to a user and while the penetration of these devices is little at the moment, it is very likely that they too are leading to proliferation in the usage of social media Given the accessibility of web on multiple such products, has led to increase on the time spent by an average user on different social media platforms and as of July 2012, users collectively were clocking over 120 Bn minutes in an average month
5.7B
40.8B
74.0B
APP 121.1B Total Minutes
July 2012
July 2011 APP YOY CHANGE 4.4B
Source: Nielsen
23.2B
59.5B
Social media has thus become an integral part of an average web-user. However, which platform that they flock to and which device (or mode) of connectivity they use seems largely governed by the utility of the social media platforms. It is no wonder therefore, that to send short, timely messages on Twitter, users do not mind using mobile phones; however to look through the professional Bio’s on LinkedIn they tend to use computers. Similarly, to look through status updates on facebook, or to view photos, or comment upon posts, computers are preferred over mobile phones; but to write opinion or research driven blog posts, computer is clearly a choice of medium over mobiles UTILITY
UNIQUE PC VISITORS, U.S. (AUDIENCE ‘000)
UNIQUE MOBILE VISITORS, U.S. (AUDIENCE ‘000)
Social Networking
Share life updates Share photos and videos Post interesting content
152,226
74,274
Search people and stay connected Stream Music
19,680
3,501
58,518
42,366
30,945
11,995
28,113
9,671
Blogging
Share life-events Share opinions, experiences Share product reviews Write movie reviews (most optput will be research or experience based and mostly will not be posted on the spur of the moment)
Professional Networking Professional networking site, requires careful monitoring; PC best suited
Micro-blogging, Photosharing
Photo-sharing
27,223
14,316
Due to its nature of small messages (160 characters), mobiles are best suited
37,033
42,366
Micro-blogging
25,634
8,512
12,594
5,325
Knowledge Sharing Knowledge creation and sharing
Source: Nielsen; Sutherland Research
Users’ multiple activities and posts on social media generate huge quantum of data that has the potential to be used by organizations to generate insight into what customers want in general, and what they want from their particular range of brands in particular. Needless to say, organizations are forced to learn and master the new ball-game called ‘Social Media’.
Social media helps connect with all the key stakeholders Most organizations currently cite ‘communicating with customers’ as the most prominent activity that they address using social media; be it for the communication before sale, or after sale. For instance, most organizations use social media for promotion of their brand, advertising their merchandise as well as to provide after-sale support. Businesses, however, still appear to be less inclined to use social media to capture customer insights, monitoring their brand, conducting research, or soliciting ideas for new products or services, despite these being some of the most potential opportunities available from social media. Given the mass of population that social media channel can quickly generate and address, data about customer perspectives, desires and habits can be captured very quickly and for far lesser a cost than that from traditional methods. With time, however, the usage of social media may change significantly and tilt more in favour of ‘soliciting customer ideas and insights’ from ‘mere customer servicing or information dissemination’. Interestingly, in addition to communicating with customers, Social media has an ability to touch almost all the key organizational functions and in turn establish communication and relations with multiple stakeholders, as can be seen from the infographic below:
1. Customer Support Usage of social media for Customer Support can be across following domains:  Address issues, complaints or negative feedback  Address product related queries: product order, shipping order status etc  Receive accolades about the products or services of the company Over time, there seems to have been an increasing trend in companies providing solutions to customer problems over social media. This is mostly made possible by Twitter and Facebook, but blogs, Customer forums also have been seeing traction. Many companies are seen to be using facebook pages to promote offers and address product launches; there are also a few examples where companies have their customer support staff address queries of the customers present on twitter and who use twitter as a channel to complain about their experience
2. Public Relations and Corporate Communications For disseminating information about the company, companies create their own Twitter accounts, or twitter support handles (such as the Twitter account of the CXO suite) or even their own customized Facebook pages. The communication on these forums could be related to new product launches, regarding accolades received by the company or even key management changes like retirements. Companies also use other general forums (like Youtube, company websites, industry forums, Scribd, etc.) to showcase their companies or their products/ services in order to create goodwill and establish stronger web presence
3. Employee Collaboration and Recruitment: A more of an inward looking usage of Social Media, is to use it for recruitment, new idea generation, process streamlining, employee retention, etc. Companies are slowly deploying private social networks, where employees from different departments across the world can know each other, and collaborate. Professional Social Media sites like Linkedin, Ryze.com, that are more outward looking, give recruiters more insight into candidates’ profiles and backgrounds, and help in making a better recruitment decisions
4. Sales – Customer Acquisition, Growth, Retention: The role of social media has also evolved over the years to assist companies in Lead Generation, Customer penetration and Customer retention. For example, companies may tap: Consumers visiting company’s website or social networking page Consumers who have ‘like’d the company’s ‘Fan Page’ on Facebook Consumers who follow the company’s YouTube channel Consumers who ‘follow’ the company on the company’s formal ‘LinkedIn’ page etc. At times companies also solicit some of the ‘celebrity’ tweeters to promote their brand knowing well that the reach of some of these celebrity tweeters could encompass millions of highly influential followers
5. Marketing – Branding, advertising, promotions, new product ideas Companies use social media to build and promote their brands through a combination of proactive and reactive steps. Some of the proactive steps could be:
Advertise on popular social media forums (Using SEO & SEM effectively) Explain features of products / services on social media Tie-up with opinion leaders to help promote the brand Participate in discussion forums, Q&A forums, surveys, etc.
Give webinars, and upload presentations on websites like Docstoc, Scribd or YouTube as a promotional mechanism Give out discount coupons, deals through social media
While, some of the mostly-reactive steps could be: Listening to customer opinions Providing feedback Clarifying doubts Launching discounting schemes in response to feedback received
Following exhibit highlights some of the typical activities in each stage of the Marketing funnel, and how social media can enable/support these activities. Companies currently view social media most beneficial in the upper stages of the purchase funnel. Marketing Funnel
Typical Activities
Common Customer Experience
Awareness
Consideration
Conversion
Loyalty/Services Measurement
Source: Booz & Company
What Social Media Enables
Branding
New environment for promoting broader brand
Content Creation
Forum for new social/viral content (often user generated)
Traffic Generation
Additional ways to drive traffic to own site or social network presence
Engagement
New microsites/widgets/apps to engage potential customers
Innovation/Ideation
Proactive customer engagement in product/service innovation
Lead Generation
New mechanisms for targeting and incentivizing potential customers
Purchase Decision
Additional e-commerce channel Unique buying propositions Purchases as syndicated social content
Loyalty/Advocacy
Deeper connection with customers after sales Activation of brand loyalists to market/sell on your behalf
After Sales Service
Additional mechanism for community based support Rich sociographic data set for effective real-time social targeting
A supporting survey conducted by Booz & Co. revealed that Brand building, interactivity with consumers and creating overall buzz are some of the most prominent marketing benefits from social media Benefits of Social Media (% of respondents) 90%
89%
88%
81%
78%
76%
71%
71%
71%
66%
Generation of sales/leads
Traffic to our sites
Lower cost
Speed of execution
Creativity & innovation
Broad reach
Enhanced marketing effectiveness
Consumer insights
Buzz building
Interactivity
Brand Building
46%
Source: Boost & Company/Buddy Media Campaigns Social Media & Marketing 2011 Survey results
Given the reach and importance of social media marketers report that social media spend will increase significantly as a percentage of digital spend over next three years. Moreover, overall digital budgets are also growing, suggesting a substantial uptick in social media spend in the coming years 3 Years from Now
Today 7%
13% 28%
5% 22%
32% 66% 27%
<5%
5%-10%
10%-20%
Social Media Spend as a Percent age of Digital Marketing Spend
>20%
Adoption by Fortune 500 suggests industry-wide acceptance Fortune Magazine annually compiles a list of America’s largest companies, the Fortune 500 (F500), based on the size of the company and wealth they amassed. Given the influential role these companies play in the business world at large, it is important to understand about the adoption rates of these companies for social media and understand the opinions of their management about what the future holds. In 2008, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (Center for Marketing Research) released one of the first studies on social media adoption among the F500 and has repeated that study every year since. The study has also been expanded by them over the years to include the usage of the fastest growing social media platforms and tools as well as indicators of engagement as highlighted by these corporations. A close look at the results from the study conducted in 2012 reveals some interesting statistics:
28% corporations have a corporate blog 67% have an active corporate Facebook account 73% have an active corporate Twitter account and have tweeted from the same in the past 30 days The biggest number of blogs is in Telecom; while Retail finds representation in other channels like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter
Let us take a closer look at some of the platforms on social media and see how corporations represent themselves on them:
Corporate Blogs
139 companies (28%) had corporate blogs as of 2012, where engagement on these blogs consisted of frequent posting, encouraging on-going discussions and provision given to the readers to follow the conversation easily through RSS or email subscriptions 28% 22%
23%
23%
2009
2010
2011
16%
2008
40% of the Telecommunications companies had blogs, as against 30% Commercial Banks and 25% Specialty Retailers. Only one company in the Aerospace industry blogged, as against the industries like Forest and Paper Products, Railroads, Tobacco, Toys/Sporting Goods, Real Estate, Building Materials/Glass, Trucking and Waste Management not blogging at all
Telecom
40%
Commercial Banks
30%
Gas & Electric Utilities
27%
Speciality Retailers Food Consumer Products
25% 21%
P&C Insurance
19%
Motor Vehicles & Parts
19%
Chemicals
2012
18%
Two of the top five corporations (Exxon and Wal-Mart) had the corporate blog, while the other three (Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Berkshire Hathaway) did not have one It was also noted that in 2012, 90% of the F500 blogs took comments, had RSS feeds and allowed subscriptions
Corporate Twitter Accounts
73% (an increase of 11% from 2011) of the F500 had corporate Twitter accounts as of 2012 with atleast one tweet being posted from the same during the 30 days that were monitored by the research committee The Twitter representation of 73% was across all the 71 industries that roll-up to F500; however, more consumer-oriented industries like Food Consumer Products, Speciality Retail industry, Commercial Banks, Telecom, P&C Insurance had above 80% representation
Proportion of Fortune 500 with Twitter Accounts Food Consumer Products
93%
Aeroscape & Defence
86%
Speciality Retailers
86%
P&C Insurance
81%
Telecom
80%
Chemicals
76%
Commercial Banks
75%
Gas & Electric Utilities
73%
All of the top 10 companies, viz - Exxon, Wal-Mart, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, General Motors, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway, Fannie Mae, Ford Motors and Hewlett-Packard consistently posted on their Twitter accounts. Among these Top 10, Retail found representation via Whole Foods Market and Starbucks, ranking at no. 2 and 3 In terms of ‘followers’, Google had the highest no. of followers on Twitter among the 2012 F500, followed by Whole Foods Market, Starbucks, and Southwest Airlines
2012
2011
27% 38% 62% 73%
Have Corporate Twitter account
Do not have Corporate Twitter account
Corporate Facebook Pages
69 of the 71 industries forming part of F500 were present on Facebook Companies in the Specialty Retail industry had 89% of their companies on Facebook, closely followed by Telecommunications and Consumer Food Products, with 80% and 86% of the companies present on Facebook. The industries with no companies on Facebook were Tobacco and Diversified Outsourcing Services
Speciality Retailers
89%
Food Consumer Products
86%
Telecom Aeroscape & Defence Commercial Banks P&C Insurance
80% 71% 70% 69%
42% of the top 200 companies had a corporate Facebook page while 40% of the bottom 200 used this tool Coca-Cola dominated the Facebook Likes tally with 42,226,297 fans, followed by Walt Disney with 32,027,185 fans In the Top 10 ranking by ‘Facebook Likes’, Speciality Retail found representation via Starbucks (30,427,600 likes), Wal-Mart (15,770,884 likes), Target (12,641,972 likes) and Kohl’s (6,464,081 likes) suggesting that Facebook clearly is a forum Retail likes to be present on
Company
F500 Rank
January 2013 Facebook Fans
2012 Facebook Fans
2011 Facebook Fans
59
4,22,26,297
3,23,03,342
66
3,20,27,185
70,65,639
227
3,04,27,600
2,41,02,790
107
2,05,60,759
94,26,335
2
1,57,70,884
71,05,159
38
1,26,41,972
49,19,647
51
1,04,28,375
23,19,637
73
97,18,582
35,76,442
483
95,50,245
46,45,713
136
92,50,588
47,57,335
146
64,64,081
52,90,702
YouTube and Pinterest
The survey found 369 (62% representation) corporate YouTube accounts in the 2012 F500 research, suggesting that this channel may also soon gain representation across various social media initiatives Pinterest was also noted to have grown in membership since its debut in 2010 and started to show up in the F500. In 2012, 11 (2%) of the F500 companies were found to have Pinterest accounts. These companies were: General Electric; Lowe’s; Starbucks; Nordstrom; Whole Foods Market; Bed Bath & Beyond; Dollar Tree; Dillard’s; American Family Insurance Group; Eastman Kodak and Live Nation, again establishing humongous retail presence
II. Social media and Retail have some inherent synergies Retail, as an extremely consumer-oriented and consumer-centric business, has certain inherent synergies with Social Media given its reach and impact on consumers at large.
Current adoption rates suggest tremendous clout Page 1
Expert and Industry comments are corroborative
“ ... Social media gives you a chance to have a conversation with your customer .. Traditional advertising is more like archery — you just aim and shoot ...” - Heidi Reale, Director Marketing and Consumer Insights Price Chopper, USA
“ ... Shopping really has become a social experience these days. One of the most impactful ways we’ve seen social affect the buying process is by increased word-of-mouth marketing. Shoppers are becoming brand advocates by sharing their favorite products through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube ... ” – Margaret Case Little, Senior Director National Retail Federation
Mobile technology is a catalyst for retail growth and is changing the way we shop. Consumers now carry a global showroom in their pocket and are increasingly as inclined to seek recommendations online and shop mobile as visit the high street. At eBay we expect 2012 to be our most successful mobile Christmas ever with around 30% of the most popular Christmas products being brought through a smartphone - Carrie Bienkowski, Head of Buyer Experience at eBay
“... We may think everyone is following the Kardashians on Facebook, but in fact, Walmart is the greater social media ‘celebrity’ with more than double the number of followers as the Kardashian family’s most popular member, Kim ...” - Wendy Liebmann, CEO WSL/Strategic Retail
“ ... Our success is rooted in a heritage of listening and responding to what our consumers want ... ” - Jessica Wells, VP Social Marketing Chico’s FAS
Case examples establish success potential Some of the early adopters from the retail industries have shown willingness to adopt the social media strategy and are reaping rich dividends from the same. Two of these case examples are covered below:
Zappos Zappos.com, Inc. (Zappos) is an online retailer which deals in sales of apparel, shoes, handbags, eyewear, watches, electronics, and other products. The company was founded in 1999, by Nick Swinmurn, in the US. The Company was listed as ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ by Fortune Magazine’s 2009 survey A decade later, in November 2009, Zappos.com was acquired by online giant Amazon.com for USD 1.2 Bn. Other details on Zappos are as below: Total Revenue: USD 1 Bn (2009) Stocks over 3 million shoes, handbags, clothing items and accessories from over 1,136 brands globally Employs over 3,866 people globally (2012) Headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, US Social Media Initiatives
Twitter: - At Zappos, c. 500 employees are connected with millions of customer globally for casual communication, generating fun, promotion of brand, or providing customer service. Zappos sees as many as 85 unique conversations per day using Twitter's API - Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh has c. 2.7 Mn followers as of January, 2013 Facebook: Used by Zappos as an effective platform to get feedback and initiate discussion on products with customers. Some of the ‘Fans Only’ content is revealed only when Facebook page is ‘like’d and email list has been joined. ‘Fan of the Week’ declaration clearly depicts ‘customers first’ policy adopted by Zappos. Facebook page has over 0.26 Mn Likes You Tube: The platform helps to understand the work culture at Zappos and also helps to identify the various online offers for customers. Zappos currently has over 2600 subscribers Pinterest - PinPointing: launched in order to utilize Pinterest users’ posts about shopping recommendations and suggestions about product Zappos also uses Google+ and Instagram as a platform to approach customers globally Zappos is developing strategies for 2013 to connect with customers using other platforms such as Tout, Pose, Tumblr, Polyvore, Reddit, Medium, and SocialCam
Benefits
On average, in a typical month, over 600 tweets talk about Zappos’ products. On some days, Zappos sees as high as 60 Tweets per day. According to the free social media monitoring service SocialMention, Zappos is being referenced every 14 seconds, and positive sentiment runs at 8:1, suggesting phenomenal brand appeal Zappos earns $33.66 on Twitter, $2.08 on Facebook, and $0.75 on Pinterest in incremental revenue
Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc.(Best Buy) is a retailer of consumer electronics, computing, mobile phone products, entertainment products, appliances, and related services. The company deals with the products and services through three channels: Retail stores, Online, and Call centers. Best Buy also provides services for installation, maintenance, technical support, and subscriptions for mobile phone and Internet services. The company was founded in 1966 by Richard M. Schulze, as an audio speciality store but it was renamed as Best Buy and rebranded as a consumer electrics store in 1983.
Total Revenue Best Buy : $50.71Billions Best Buy Headquarter at Richfield, Minnesota Employee Count : 167000 Best Buy is the 11th largest online retailer and also named “Company of the Year” by Forbes Magazine 2004.
Social Media Initiatives
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze got an offer to buy a struggling Big Box Brand that helps Best Buy to revive their declining sales and competition from industry giant like Amazon and Wal-Mart, That offer came from C-Suite (A social media platform on which the member of this group comes with high-stakes decision making like CEO,CFO) BLOGS: Best Buy’s CMO Berry Judge took time to blog about the company and update consumer about the new developments. Best Buy Forums: A platform provided by company to share and discuss about technology and tech related products. Best Buy on Facebook: Like a normal facebook fan page, Best Buy provide company info,produt info and stores info for customer. The Best Buy page also have “Shop + Share” tab that allow to view weekly ads and promotions that are running. Best Buy on Twitter: Best Buy use Twitter for Marketing, product releases, new promotions/offers, new stores and more update about company. Best Buy Connect: It is a platform which gathers all tweets, feeds, and blogs from all over the Best Buy communities and deliver it to one centralize location that helps Customers to get knowledge and information about tech products
Benefits http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/08/14/can-best-buy-get-its-groove-back-throughsocial-media-leadership/
III. Implementation Strategy
Definition Evaluate • •
Key Activities
•
•
•
Identify overall business objectives Articulate social media objectives and align them with the identified business objectives Assess and evaluate the organization’s current social media initiatives Identify the gap between desired and current state of ‘goal achievement’ from social media efforts Generate awareness in the company and get a management buy-in for framing a social media strategy
Develop •
•
•
•
Key Stake Holders
•
• •
Social Media core team Top management
Realization
• •
Deploy
Segment target audience who will be influenced via disparate social media engagement initiatives Articulate key characteristics of the target audience: – social media needs – current and future usage pattern – current penetration and future projections for the same Identify budgetary requirements and highlight goals to be achieved, risks to be mitigated and metrics of performance measurement Define overall ‘social media strategy roadmap’, and identify individual projects therein Identify ‘talent needs’ and meet them through internal or external hiring
•
Social Media core team Top management
• • •
•
• • • •
Monitor
Implement Project Office and deploy identified human resources or hire where deficit Determine other functional requirements of projects going live and arrange for resources Select and buy vendor based tools Build and configure tools to be developed in-house Develop, Test and Go-Live on individual projects Train key users and get the user buyin. Meet additional training needs where necessary
•
Social Media core team Key Users Vendors
•
• • • • •
Measure social media activity on the identified metrics Identify ‘successes’ and replicate the same where possible Identify ‘concerns’ and deliver solutions Hand-over the project to the permanent social media team Document learnings Move to the next social media project
Social Media core team
Success in implementation of Social Media strategy hinges on three key factors
Identific ation and achieve ment of Key Success Factors (KSF)
Measurement and mitigation of risks
Continuous measurement of benefits and coursecorrection
Identification and achievement of Key Success Factors (KSF) For developing and deploying a social media strategy successfully, it is important to identify the KSF. While there are many factors that collectively contribute to a project as complex as a ‘social media project’, some factors like the ‘quick adaptation of change’, ‘designated ownership and answerability’, ‘clear articulation and deployment’ alongwith a supportive organizational structure are cited as most important as per the survey conducted by Booz&Co. and Buddy Media Campaign. 94%
93%
90%
90%
88%
86%
83%
80%
79%
(% of respondents who “strongly agree” or “agree”)
53%
50%
Dedicated budget not shared with other digital initiatives
Head of social medica company-wide
Ability to coordinate & manage multiple service providers
Unique content that is exclusive to the audience…
Strong PR capability
Training of staff who are not accustomed to…
Supporting initiatives with an integrated marketing plan
A culture that encourages experimentation
Education on what can be achieved via social media
Clearly communicated support from executive management
Having a clear champion, owner
Ability to adapt & react quickly
62%
Measurement and mitigation of risks Given the prowess and spread of organizations on social media, it is no surprise that many companies are making themselves subject to certain inherent threats due to the over-exposure. These risks can be classified under four broad headings: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Brand or reputation related risks Breach of confidentiality Legal, regulatory or compliance violations Identity thefts
Based on the survey conducted by Altimeter on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Social Media Risk Management Surveyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in 2012, it is believed that organizations consider the defamation of the brand as the most critical risk, closely followed by loss of confidentiality or that of intellectual property. Employee defamation is considered the least critical among the surveyed; however, it is important to note that it is a function of whose identity may be stolen: that of the top management may in turn lead to much more damage to the organization than that of the people working in the middle or junior managerial roles
Reputation or damage to the brand Release of other confidential information Loss of intellectual property (IP) Legal, regulatory, or compliance issues Disclosure of personal data
6% 4% 10%
15%
31%
13%
27%
25%
13%
15%
33% 23%
27% 8%
Damage to your information infrastructure
15%
21%
No risk
12%
29%
10%
33% 35%
8% 29%
40%
17% 19%
13% 29%
35%
15%
15%
23%
21%
Social engineering attacks
Employee defamation
31%
13%
Interrupted business continuity
Reduced employee productivity
35%
25%
15%
Identity theft and/or hijacking
Malware
23%
31%
37%
6%
31%
29%
Slight risk
6%
4%
27%
Moderate risk
Significant risk
2%
Critical risk
Needless to say that a successful implementation and post-implementation plan should have a mechanism to address these risks and mitigate them in a timely manner. It is imperative that organizations are proactive than reactive, and commit definite resources, either human, financial or technical â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to address the potential pitfalls that may lead to damage of the organizational repute
Continuous measurement of benefits and suitable course-correction It is noted that companies are still striving hard to put a system in place which successfully measures the ROI for corporate social media initiatives. Some of the key metrics companies are often seen using are as per the infographic below. Metrics used for social media (% of respondents) Reach (uniques, PVs, video views, time spent)
88%
Buzz (trending topics, blog mentions, influentials) Engagement (forwards, shares, re-tweets, posts, likes) Participation (fans, followers, check-ins, signups) Transaction (sales, leads generated)
66% 93% 92% 38%
Advocacy (comments, feedback, participation in polls)
81%
Source: Booz & Company/Buddy Media Campaigns to Capabilities Social Media & Marketing 2011 Survey results
One can only control what one can measure and therefore, it is increasingly important that factors measuring the success of social media strategy are clearly identified, deployed and monitored. In case of a performance non-achievement or aberration an immediate rectificatory action should be taken
IV. Conclusion