1. Social Media Insights
based on report by Harvard Business Review.
What Most
Companies/Brands Don't Know
Brought to you by:

2. Social Media – Insights
Fifty-eight percent of companies are currently engaged in social networks like
Facebook, microblogs like Twitter, and sharing multimedia on platforms such as
YouTube – but research from the Harvard Business Review Analytics Services report
"The New Conversation: Taking Social Media from Talk to Action" [sponsored by
SAS] finds that much of the investment in social is future-oriented
In the slides that follow,
we'll dive into this research,
showing how most
companies really use social
media – and what the most
effective users do differently.

3. How effectively do you feel your
organizations currently using social media?
Although 79% of the 2,100 companies surveyed are either using or planning to use
social media channels, a measly 12% of those firms feel that they are using them
effectively. `These social media all-stars engage beyond the tired method of "shout
marketing," by using social more often to promote their brand, monitor trends among
customers, and even research new product ideas.

4. Please indicate the extent to which
you agree with each of the following statements:
A large percentage of organizations are still hesitant to get serious about social. Two-thirds of users had no
formalized social media strategy, and just 7% had integrated social media into their overall marketing strategy.
While 69% predict that their use of social media will grow, 61% admit the need to overcome a learning curve
before adopting any kind of social media strategy. Just 32% view it as an executive priority – and nearly one in
ten of the executives we surveyed dismissed the business use of social media as a passing fad.

5. Which of the following are the three most pressing challenges that your
organization currently faces (or anticipates) with regards to social media?
The toughest challenges for
executives involve tying social
investments back to the
bottom line – measuring its
effectiveness, linking social
media efforts to ROI, and
understanding the concrete
difference social efforts make
to the business. While they
understand social media can be
a powerful tool, most
executives still aren't sure how
powerful.

6. Which area of your organization are responsible for the
development of your social media strategy?
Just 12% of the companies surveyed have
hired staff dedicated to social media activities.
Instead, it's mostly delegated to external
relations staff or techies. Maybe that's why
social media has trouble getting a piece of the
budget pie: Just 20% of social-media-using
organizations have dedicated a portion of the
budget to it, though that rises to 44% among
effective users. "At the C-Suite level, they
don't want to talk about social media because
they don't understand it," one executive
admitted.

7. What have been the three primary benefits that using social
media has brought to your organization?
Given this difficulty in understanding the
opportunities social media offers and the lack
of clarity in its perceived benefits, most firms
now prefer a strategy of controlled
experimentation. As one executive put it,
"Social media is a big ocean and we are pulling
in a little bay where we are most protected."
The majority of these efforts (50%) are geared
towards increasing awareness of the
organization or brand.

8. Does your organization currently…
The best users understand that social
media is a conversation, not a monologue.
More effective companies use social
media to interact with customers by
creating online customer groups and
monitoring trends. They were twice as
likely to use social media to research new
products. And they met their customers
where they already were, using four or
more social media channels – including
multi-media sharing, review sites,
discussion forums, and blogs. How do
you use social media to listen to – and
engage with – your customers?

9. Key Learning from the Study
• Many organizations seem to operate under old paradigms, viewing social media as one-
way flow marketing messages, instead of capitalizing on the opportunity to monitor,
analyze, and participate in the millions of conversations between consumers.
• Among companies currently using social media,
• 50% said its benefited by increasing awareness of the organization & its products/services
among target customers.
• 26% said social media usage lead to more favorable perceptions of the organization, products,
or services.
• Another 30% saw an increase in traffic to their website as a prime benefit
• Among organizations that already have a budget for social media, spending is expected to
increase by 30% or more over the next 12 months.
• In the near future effective use of social media will be led by these organizations that are
able to enter into this new relationship with customers, employees, and partners.
• Looking to the future, 41% companies said their primary goal will be to integrate social
media monitoring solutions with other marketing solutions, so that they can understand
not just what is being said, but who is saying and its impact.

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courses). We like to think of ourselves as Creators of Awesomeness for a highly
networked culture.
We are a Creative Agency specializing in Social Media Marketing & Mobile App
development.
We believes in providing innovative, customer focused, community-minded &
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from industries such as Technology, Financial Services, Liquor, Retail, Fashion &
Lifestyle, Media, NGO’s and many more.
The Geek4Green Team is a young, enthusiastic & creative & always looking to
challenge the status quo.

11. Visit: www.geek4green.com