SOCIALLY ENGAGED COMPANIES$SEE 4X GREATER BUSINESS IMPACT

1.
Contact:
Tishy
Bryant
FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Tel.
512/582-­‐7450
March
26,
2012
Email:
tbryant@pulsepointgroup.com
NEW
STUDY:
'SOCIALLY
ENGAGED'
COMPANIES
SEE
4X
GREATER
BUSINESS
IMPACT
PulsePoint/Economist
Research
Reveals
What
Separates
High
and
Low
Performers
Austin,
Texas
–
Companies
that
fully
embrace
social
engagement
are
experiencing
four
times
greater
business
impact
than
less-­‐engaged
companies,
according
to
a
new
study
conducted
by
PulsePoint
Group,
a
management
and
digital
consulting
firm,
in
collaboration
with
The
Economist
Intelligence
Unit.
The
research
identifies
six
types
of
socially
engaged
enterprises
and
provides
insights
for
organizations
that
want
both
to
measure
themselves
against
peers
and
find
the
right
strategy
for
improving
business
and
economic
impact
from
their
investments
in
social
engagement.
“We
believe
this
research
is
essential
to
assure
companies
that
their
investments
in
social
engagement
can
be
rewarded,
provided
they
do
it
right,”
said
Paul
Walker,
a
partner
with
Austin-­‐
based
PulsePoint
Group.
“We
felt
this
was
an
opportune
time
to
conduct
this
research
and
to
focus
on
C-­‐suite
executives,
because
it
is
clear
that
there
is
a
growing
list
of
high-­‐performing
companies
that
are
achieving
superior
economic
returns
from
the
use
of
social
engagement
with
key
internal
and
external
constituents,”
Walker
continued.
“We
believe
we
are
seeing
an
inflection
point
at
which
many
organizations
are
moving
from
an
experimentation
phase
with
social
technologies
to
achieving
tangible
and
measurable
returns
on
the
investments.
Most
notably,
they
are
achieving
enterprise-­‐
level
scale
that
is
impacting
marketing
and
sales
efficiency,
increased
sales
and
market
share,
and
speed
to
market
with
new
products.
”
Social
Engagement
Defined
A
socially
engaged
enterprise
actively
engages
constituents
(employees,
customers,
partners,
and
other
stakeholders)
in
meaningful
conversations
–
enabled
by
social
technologies
–
so
that
both
parties
benefit.
This
mutual
exchange
of
value
is
not
just
about
products
but
about
useful
information
that
builds
commonality
of
interests
and
a
sense
of
trust.
The
study,
“The
Economics
of
the
Socially
Engaged
Enterprise,”
conducted
in
February
2012,
found
that
in
the
most
socially
engaged
companies,
the
Chief
Executive
Officer
and
other
C-­‐suite
executives
are
the
vital
advocates
for
cultural
change
that
drives
deeper
levels
of
engagement.
The
study
found
that
a
traditional
focus
on
listening
centers
and
influencer
engagement,
two
of
the
primary
enablers
of
this
initial
transformation,
are
now
the
price
of
entry
for
the
most
advanced
socially
engaged
enterprises.
The
research
revealed
specific
economic
or
business
1

2. impact
values
across
10
distinctive
social
engagement
activities.
“The
research
let
us
develop
and
test
a
formula
for
what
combinations
of
social
engagement
activities
organizations
should
focus
on
to
improve
their
engagement
and
impact,”
said
Michael
Gale,
PulsePoint
Group
partner.
“Companies
need
a
more
prescriptive
path
forward
to
be
successful.
While
the
formula
is
quite
straightforward,
our
experience
shows
the
changes
required
will
not
be,
so
well-­‐defined
roadmaps
with
accountable
metrics
are
essential.”
More
than
three
hundred
C-­‐suite
and
senior
executives
were
surveyed
for
their
perspectives
on
social
engagement
including
definitions,
drivers,
barriers,
and
advocates
related
to
current
and
future
activities.
Key
findings
show:
• The
average
return
on
social
engagement
was
calculated
to
be
between
3-­‐5%.
The
most
engaged
businesses
are
reporting
a
calculated
7.7%
business
impact
specifically
from
social
engagement,
which
is
four
times
the
performance
of
the
lowest
performers
who
only
achieved
a
1.9%
estimated
return.
• The
top
two
areas
where
executives
thought
social
engagement
had
real
value
were
improved
marketing
and
sales
effectiveness
(84%)
and
increased
sales
and
market
share
(81%).
• C-­‐suite
advocacy
is
critical,
now
and
in
the
future.
Two-­‐thirds
of
the
organizations
achieving
the
highest
returns
reported
that
their
C-­‐suites
are
active
advocates–
that
is,
they
commit
to
social
engagement
as
a
strategy
and
they
reallocate
resources
to
make
it
happen.
• However,
a
full
28%
of
C-­‐suite
executives
still
don’t
believe
in
social
engagement.
And
the
number
one
reason?
The
inability
to
gauge
ROI
(45%).
For
engagement
to
work,
the
C-­‐suite
has
to
believe
in
it
and
see
measurable
returns.
• The
most
socially
engaged
segments
believe
that
widely
distributed
buy-­‐in
across
the
organization
–
and
beyond
marketing
and
communications
–
is
key
for
scale
and
generating
economic
business
impact.
This
even
includes
operations
management
and
financial
leadership.
• Executives
defined
social
engagement
today
as
online
listening
(28%),
blogging
(24%)
and
building
relationships
with
online
influencers
(21%).
But
the
top
performers
have
a
different
view
–
they
will
be
more
focused
on
ideas
and
action
in
the
next
two
years.
Big-­‐return
companies
crowdsource
new
products
(57%),
or
let
customers
participate
in
developing
ideas
-­‐-­‐
they
are
predicting
a
significant
portion
of
new
products
will
be
derived
from
social
engagement
insights.
• Fifty-­‐nine
percent
of
executives/managers
interviewed
say
that
young
people,
as
employees
and
customers,
will
expect
and
value
engagement;
that’s
what
is
driving
their
engagement
plans.
Fifty-­‐four
percent
say
that
customers’
expectations
of
social
engagement
are
driving
their
plans.
• In
order
for
companies
to
know
whether
their
investments
are
providing
returns,
appropriate
metrics
need
to
be
developed.
The
research
indicates
that
benchmarks
(33%)
and
key
performance
indicators
(30%)
will
be
the
top
approaches
for
measuring
social
engagement
in
the
next
two
years.
Today,
many
companies
are
2

3. depending
on
executive
intuition
(27%)
or
are
simply
not
measuring
impact
(28%).
“The
ability
to
measure
the
right
mix
of
socially
engaged
activities
has
let
us
create
an
economic
value
formula
for
what
organizations
can
and
should
invest
in,”
Gale
said.
PulsePoint
Group
will
discuss
the
study
in
more
detail
-­‐
and
next
steps
for
executives
and
marketers
-­‐
in
a
webinar
in
collaboration
with
BrightTALK,
on
Thursday,
April
19
at
1
p.m.
EDT.
Register
for
the
webinar
and
learn
more
about
The
Socially
Engaged
Enterprise
at:
http://www.sociallyengagedenterprise.com.
About
PulsePoint
Group
PulsePoint
Group
is
a
management
and
digital
consulting
firm
that
provides
insight,
strategy
development
and
strategic
execution
for
communications
and
marketing
management
challenges,
with
a
special
focus
on
social
and
digital
engagement.
PulsePoint
Group
specializes
in
C-­‐suite
and
boardroom-­‐level
consulting.
Combining
its
creativity
and
deep
experience
with
rigorous
research,
it
transforms
data
derived
from
cutting-­‐edge
metrics
into
actionable
recommendations.
This
approach
has
made
it
a
trusted
advisor
to
many
of
the
Fortune
100.
http://www.pulsepointgroup.com.
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