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Helping organizations build deeper relationships with key stakeholders
Are You Listening?
Social. Business. Online.
Operational Impact
Social Business Benchmark
For many organizations, social media means using online channels as a broadcast platform – a digital megaphone,
if you will. While this is a good start, it doesn’t represent the complete opportunity and magnitude of the social
experience because it is largely a one-sided conversation. Instead, the social experience needs to come full circle
where online exchanges become actionable and have an operational impact.
Now that we are more comfortable with digital engagement tools, and the shine is wearing off on “likes” and “thumbs
up,” it is time to start exploring the impact and returns of developing socially integrated organizations. Companies are
discovering that the real value of social lies not in marketing alone, but in leveraging insights gained both offline and
online to be more responsive to key stakeholders, such as prospective customers, clients, partners, and suppliers.
The Social Business Benchmark is designed to offer organizations an objective understanding of where they stand
against the study data as published in The Social Business Benchmark Study – 2013 Preliminary Findings, in order to
identify gaps and realize the full potential of their investment in social channels and platforms.
What Can Leader Networks Clients Expect?
The Social Business Benchmark is a research-based offering (using both qualitative and quantitative data) that provides
organizations with a clear picture of where they stand against six criteria including:
• Strategic Intention: Does the organization have a clear, well executed strategy
for social initiatives that aligns with the larger organizational strategy?
• Operations: Has the organization developed an operating model that is able
to leverage the social outcomes to impact core operations such as customer
service, R&D, and product development?
• Staffing: Does the organization support its employees in purposeful use of
social tools and processes to aid the work they do and are they using social
channels to recruit and evaluate prospective employees?
• Governance: Does the organization have well defined social policies and are
staff trained in social media best practices to support their strategic intention?
• Tool Use: Has the organization developed standards and appropriately
invested in social media tools in order to support their strategic intention?
• Organizational Readiness: Is the organizational culture ready to support
the emerging needs that social business frequently yields?

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The offering includes a series of one-on-one interviews with select cross-functional members of the leadership
team and participation in the social business benchmark survey. The results are then compared against the existing
data set, combined with qualitative feedback from the interviews, and incorporated into a final report. The findings
report is delivered and presented via a web-conference allowing ample time to discuss findings, observations,
and recommendations.
About Leader Networks
Leader Networks is a research and strategy consulting group focused on helping organizations build deeper B2B
relationships with key stakeholders, thus creating significant competitive advantage and outstanding business results.
We guide firms in the strategic use and deployment of online social tools and techniques, including developing
innovative ways to listen to, learn about, interact with and build trust across a wide range of constituencies including
prospective customers, clients, suppliers, partners, and employees via B2B online communities and social
business initiatives.
For more information contact:
Vanessa DiMauro
CEO, Leader Networks
617-484-0778
vdimauro@leadernetworks.com
www.leadernetworks.com