Every iMedia Brand Summit I attend I use the 'One Minute Meet Up' speed-networking sessions as an excuse to run a social media poll with a series of influential brand marketers.
Last year at the excellent Coronado Bay event I polled the brands on their personal social media usage and the importance of SM for their business. This year I focused on internal processes for policy and listening, and of course I couldn't miss a Superbowl related question.
Survey questions were asked to 24 senior marketers from brands including Coca-Cola, Zappos, Western Union, Kasier Permanente, Kraft, Taco Bell and Olive Garden. The same questions were asked to all marketers:
1) Does your organization have a social media policy?
2) Does your brand undertake formal listening to the online conversation?
2 - i) (if yes): What department/business unit is responsible for this listening?
3) 'Thumbs' up or 'Thumbs Down' for the Google Superbowl ad?
- Question 1 Results - Does your organization have a social media policy?
Interesting to see that the savvy iMedia marketers have generally already put a formal policy into place. This flies in the face of the recent Manpower study showing only 29% of brands have social media policies, this is not surprising given the savvy brands attracted to iMedia. Interestingly, Zappos - a poster child for excellent social media engagement, was one of the few brands to say 'no' to a formal policy... though social media is deeply ingrained in their customer focused culture.
- Question 2 Results - Does your brand undertake formal listening to the online conversation?
As a leading provider of Conversation Mining it's great to see that brands are clearly starting to understand that the 'ostrich approach' of sticking your head in the sand and not listening to the online conversation is no longer an option. Across the board brands are listening... but I'm sure the approaches and effectiveness of each brands efforts differs widely.
- Question 2, i Results - What department/business unit is responsible for this listening?
A wide variety of answers here as brands struggle to define who best 'owns' social media and listening within their organization. Interesting to see the different approaches in action here - in future I'd like to see some case studies of different brand approaches to organizing for smart listening.
- Question 3 Results – 'Thumbs' up or 'Thumbs Down' for the Google Superbowl ad?
also quickly parodied).
How do these results line up with your organization or your assumptions about brand approaches to social media? This post is cross-posted from the Converseon blog.
