Senior Executive Social Networking Survey ( November 2009)
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Transcript of Senior Executive Social Networking Survey ( November 2009)
SENIOR EXECUTIVE
social networking survey
We hear a steady drum of discussion about the impact of online social networking as a growing way for companies to reach consumers. Well-known companies, such as Ford and Best Buy, use several online social networking services, maintain large monitoring staffs and attract millions of followers.
But it’s not yet clear exactly how social networking will change business to business communications, so Margolis & Company and Young Presidents’ Organization asked leaders and decision makers for their thoughts and plans regarding online social networking in a business to business context. We created the Senior Executive Social Networking Survey to shed light on the question.
From September to October 2009, we interviewed 100 CEOs and Senior Executives about their viewpoints and investment plans for social networking in the B2B space, interviewing 85 YPO members and 15 other business leaders in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia/Pacific. YPO is an international education and networking organization with members in more than 100 countries.
This is clearly a time of transition and explosive growth, and the contrasts between the “old era” and the “new era” are striking. A recent story in The Wall Street Journal went so far as to say that email’s “run as king of communication is over” and that social networking services will command a significant share of the new world.
Justin Kistner, Webtrends’ head of social media marketing, explains that social networking pieces still must adhere to proper ethics, fact gathering and story telling, but that the distribution model in the new world removes the “middle man.” The industrial media brands we have trusted are clearly under enormous pressure to remain a force, while their star reporters individually brand themselves in the new social networking venues. Social networking levels the playing field for growing small and medium-sized enterprises.
Most companies understand we’re experiencing a paradigm shift. This is the Wild West and the protocols are being established by the week. Interestingly, one senior executive we interviewed from a FORTUNE 50 company who enthused about the importance of social networking in his company’s customer management also revealed that most of the same company’s networks blocked rank and file staffers’ access to social media.
The Senior Executive Social Networking Survey results reflect contrasts in policy and approach. More than eight out of ten of the leaders responded that a traditional newspaper or magazine piece still was preferable to a piece in a prominent blog. At the same time 80 percent of the companies plan to allocate more resources to develop social networking strategies over the next two years. We believe that social networking will enhance speed and augment relationships with customers and clients. However, online networking will never be a substitute for real human interaction.
On behalf of YPO members and Margolis & Company, we hope that our readers find this survey useful for future planning and discussion. We wish to thank all the leaders that participated and for TNS for validating and co-processing the results. We look forward to hearing your perspective.
Dan Margolis Simon PrestonPresident & Managing Partner YPO-WPO International Chairman 2009-2010Margolis & Company YPO Pennine and YPO Greater Europe [email protected] [email protected]@danmargolis www.ypo.org
Executive message
2
SENIOR EXECUTIVE social networking surveySENIOR EXECUTIVE social networking surveyPersonal attitudes towards social networking
Q1 Continued
Other None
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
3%
16%
37%
42%
62%
75%
“We monitor Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
and Google so anytime someone references
‘Boingo’ we review it in real time and respond
as appropriate. This is a fantastic way to
understand what people are saying about
the company and manage a poor customer
experience and turn it into a win. Customers
are blown away when they tweet and we
immediately respond to solve the issue.” — David Hagan, President and CEO, Boingo Wireless
Q1 Which social media services do you use for business purposes?
4
Consumer
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
50%
43%
73%
67%
Financial
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
30%
20%
50%
80%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
39%
56%
56%
94%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
35%
35%
57%
74%
Social media services used for business purposes by sector
Q1 Continued
Professional services Technology
5
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%Other
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
Total Consumer Financial ServicesProfessional ServicesTechnologyOther
Social media services used for business purposes by sector
Q1 Continued
6
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
1.9
2.13
2.47
2.58
2.67
2.32
Total Professional ServicesOtherConsumerTechnologyFinancial Services
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
Number of social media services used for business purposes by sector
Q1 Continued
7
Q2 Which is more valuable — a story written about your company in a prominent newspaper or business magazine or a story about your company on a prominent blog?
Blog
Newspaper / magazine
N/A
82%
16%2%
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
“Social media provides the opportunity
to reach consumers directly and at a more
individual level, versus mass advertising.” — Margaret Hardin, President & COO, Munchkin
8
Q3 Are you more likely to respond more quickly to a question or inquiry from a known business contact you receive through social networking messaging (e.g Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter) versus your regular business email?
I respond faster to known sources
From social networking messages
From regular business email
N/A
2%
20%
78%
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
“We are regulated by The Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
and are very concerned that regulators
will penalize us for using social
networking sites.” — Douglas Rodgers, CEO, FOCUS,
Investment Bankers
9
Ways of using social networks
More resources / 80%Much more resources
None or much less / Somewhat less 4%
Same amount of resources as current More resources
Much more resources
None or much less
0% Somewhat less
20%
61%
19%4%
Q4 Should your company invest more resources (time, money or both) for social media management in the next year or two?
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
“Social media will impact all industries,
not just ours. Social networks are the
closest thing to ESP that CEOs can use to
determine what his or her customers are
saying about their company and/or brand.
I have a great deal of experience in social
media and feel that the transformation has
begun - those that don’t embrace it will
be left behind.” — Rajeev Kapur, Chairman and CEO, Greenwala
11
Future investment in social media management by sector
Q4 Continued
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
More resourcesMuch more resources
Total Consumer Financial Professional Technology Other Services Services
_80%
_19%
_61%
_76%
_33%
_43%
_80%
_20%
_60%
_83%
_17%
_67%
_91%
_13%
_78%
_75%_8%
_67%
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
12
Q5 How hard is it to manage business correspondence that is sent through social media sites?
16%
5%5%
32%
42%
Very easy / Easy 21%
Very difficult / Difficult 37%
Easy
Very easy
Very difficult
Difficult
Manageable but occasionally difficult
“The phrase ‘social networks’ is much
more relevant than ‘social media.’ Social
media are simply tools which vastly improve
the functioning of pre-existing and new
social networks.” — Dave Maney, Chairman, Headwaters Incorporated
13
Q6 How much has the use of authorized social media for business opportunities increased in your company over the past year?
20%5%
21%
53%
Use has dropped significantly
Use has dropped a little (1%)
Use is the same as a year ago
Use is increasing
Use is very much increasing
“We’ve been getting a lot of questions
about social networking. We are intrigued
how it may help our firm and our portfolio
of companies and how it can be used for
branding, marketing and greater awareness
of products and services.” — Michel Glouchevitch, Partner, Riordan, Lewis & Haden
14
Future investment in social media management by sector
Q6 Continued
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Total Consumer Financial Professional Technology Other Services Services
_73%
_20%
_53%
_63%
_23%
_40%
_70%
_20%
_50%
_95%
_17%
_78%_70%
_26%
_44%
_75%
_17%
_58%
Use is increasingUse is very much increasing
15
Q7 Social networking plays an important role in deepening your business relationships with colleagues, clients and potential clients. Please select the response most accurate for your business and company.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
66%Agree
34%Disagree 6% Very strongly
28% Somewhat
40% Agree
16% Strongly
10% Very strongly
“Social media will improve relationships
with customers, the profiling and
knowledge of customers’ needs and trends,
help drive innovation and R&D for new
solutions, and improve customer care and
company reputation.” — Juan Carlos Fouz, CEO, IZO SYSTEM
16
Deepening business relationships through social networking by sector
Q7 Continued
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
_66%_10%
_16%
_40%
_56%
_13%
_10%
_33%
_50%
_20%
_30%
_89%
_17%
_22%
_50%
_79%_9%
_26%
_44%
_66%_8%
_8%
_50%
Total Consumer Financial Professional Technology Other Services Services
AgreeStrongly agreeVery strongly agree
17
Q8 Do you expect social media to play a bigger role in next two years in deepening your business relationships and increasing your access to new information?
10% 15%
11%26%
Same as today
20% more
50% more
100% more More than 100% compared to today
38%
“It’s like being at a cocktail party and
we just get to stand aside and listen.
Social media allows us to be more aware
of what people are saying to each other
about our company and address the issues
and concerns.” — Executive, FORTUNE 50 company
18
Q9 Do you have a social media strategy for your company? If yes, please rank the following in order of importance, with “1” being most important and “5” being the least important.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Marketing
Innovations
Customer Support
Others
Most important 2 3 4 5 Least important N/A
46% 17% 8% 7% 12% 10%
“We believe the largest single value is
creating a loyal following of peers who are
interested in our technical blogs we are
working to create. Our biggest challenge is
creating meaningful content.” — Scott Irwin, President, Aktion Associates
11% 27% 21% 14% 16% 11%
8% 18% 21% 26% 16% 11%
8% 15% 22% 21% 23% 11%
9% 5% 15% 10% 47% 14%
19
Q10 How much do you use social media for communicating with friends, colleagues and business contacts for purely social correspondence, versus how much for business related communication?
Only social
Mostly social
Equally social and business
Mostly business
Business only
28%16%
4%
42%
10%
“Social media is an investment
of image so that fact and perception of fact
can coincide and thus reinforce the brand.
When East works with West, and South with
North, it will help understanding of cultural
norms and reduce pre-conceived notions
by further bringing people together.”— Robert Wong, Founding Partner and CEO, Robert Wong Executive Consulting
20
Accessibility and restrictions
Q11 Does your company limit employee access to social media services and sites while at work?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
9% Some sites are blocked and hours of use are somewhat limited
51% Most sites are permitted with few limitations
21% The organization strongly encourages employees to maintain social networking accounts and usage during business hours
12% Most sites are blocked or use is limited to non-business hours only
7% Social media sites are blocked by network services
“Social media will increase customer
service awareness and consumer approval
of products, as well as highlight features
and benefits and/or shortcomings
and deficiencies.”— Allen Furrer, President, Ascend Wireless
22
Limitations on access to social media by sector
Q11 Continued
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
-40%
-60%Total Consumer Financial Professional Technology Other Services Services
Social media sites are blocked by network services
Most sites are blocked or use is limited to non-business hours only
Some sites are blocked and hours of use are somewhat limited
Most sites are permitted and there are few limitations
The organization strongly encourages employees to maintain social networking accounts and usage during business hours
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
_25%
_25%
_-25%
_-25%
_70%
_9%
_-17%
_-4%
_50%
_39%
_-6%
_-6%
_70%
_20%
_-10%
_47%
_23%
_-7%
_-7%
_-17%
_51%
_21%
_-9%
_-12%
_-7%
23
Q12 How often do social media and related topics surface in discussions with your executive team?
21%29%
15%26%
Never Occasionally
Sometimes
Often Very often
9%
“In the professional services space,
where there is not a single brand, but
two important brands — the company
brand and the individual brand of
the professional, the challenge or the
opportunity is to effectively manage
these brands together. And social media
enables this.”— Gray Hollett, VP of Marketing, Boyden World Corporation
24
Social media topics in discussions with executive teams by sector
Q12 Continued
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Total Consumer Financial Professional Technology Other Services Services
OftenVery often
Consumer = 30Financial = 10Healthcare = 1Industrial = 6Professional Services = 18Technology = 23Other = 12
_42%_17%
_22%
_17%
_33%_30%
_27%
_33%
_15%
_29%
25
Attitudinal segments
Personal attitude towards social networks
Ways of using social networks
Institutional restrictions
Construction of attitudinal segments - Indicators (I)
Q2 Which is more valuable – a story written about your company in a prominent newspaper or business magazine or a story about your company on a prominent blog?
Q3 Are you more likely to respond more quickly to a question or inquiry from a known business contact you receive through social networking messaging (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) versus your regular business email?
Q4 Should your company invest more resources for social media management in the next year or two?
Q6 How much has the use of authorized social media for business opportunities increased in your company over the past year?
Q7 “Social networking plays an important role in deepening your business relationships with colleagues, clients and potential clients.” Please select the response most accurate for your business and company. Q8 Do you expect social media to play a bigger role in next two years in deepening your business relationships and increasing your access to new information?
Q10 How much do you use social media for communicating with friends, colleagues and business contacts for purely social correspondence, versus how much for business related communication?
Q11 Does your company limit employee access to social media services and sites while at work?
Q12 How often do social media and related topics surface in discussions with your executive team?
Number of social media services used for business purposes
“Social media helps us get the word out
on our new products... putting a human
face on our company.”— Chuck Tanner, Wholesale Interiors
27
Construction of attitudinal segments - Indicators (II)
Personal attitude towards social
networks
Rejectors
Followers
Leaders of change
Ways of using social networks
Leisure
Let the business in
Market developers
0 - 40%
41 - 70%
71 - 100%
• All indicators included in each attitudinal segment regarding three dimensions are recorded in scales
• The closer to change towards using social networks for business, the higher the scale
• Sum of all indicators in every attitudinal segment goes from “0” to “100”
• Scale is split into three categories:
Institutional restrictions
Restricted
Unrestricted
Encouraged
Construction of attitudinal segments - Indicators (III)
• After constructing three attitudinal segments (personal attitude towards social networks, ways of using social networks and institutional restrictions) all of them are combined to define a final segmentation. • The results of the three dimensions are converted into five categories:
Promoters Believers Led Reticent Resistant
“In Brazil, business is more personable.
It’s important to maintain eye contact.
Brazilians want to hear you, see you
and feel you, so social media is not a
substitute for that real connection, but
rather a complement to it.”— Robert Wong
28
Followers
Market developers
Leisure
Let the business in
Analysis by segment
Number of social media services used for business purposes
Personal attitude towards social networks
Institutional restrictions
Social network uses
55%
36%40%
24%
16%
58%26%
Leaders of change
Rejectors
Unrestricted
Encouraged
Restricted
15%
30%
29
Analysis by segment: attitudinal segments
Promoters — Making changes happen
Believers — Enthusiastic but not proactive towards changes
Led — Fitting to expected changes in the future
Reticent — Slower to change from traditional habits
Resistant — Unlikely to adopt social networks as a tool for business
16%
31%
22%
23%
8%
30
Number of social media services used for business purposes
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Total Consumer Financial Professional Technology Other Services Services
PromotersBelieversLedReticentResistant
_25%
_8%
_17%
_33%
_17%
_30%
_35%
_22%
_13%
_6%
_50%
_17%
_28%
_6%
_50%
_30%
_10%
_13%
_17%
_23%
_17%
_17%
_23%
_8%
_31%
_22%
_16%
31
Final thoughts
The data shows that while only 20 percent of the participating leaders use social networking primarily for commercial purposes, most executives believe social media in a business to business context will achieve significant growth in the next two years. The slight resistance executives expressed about social networking derives more from old habits than any fundamental philosophical rejection of social networking or the new media’s services.
We asked the participating leaders to respond in a business context, though a number of the respondents based their projections on a consumer model. We conclude that this is because the business to business model is so new.
The effectiveness of the “promoters” will be important to define the growth rate in the business sector. From the survey, the professional services sector, and to some extent the consumer sector, are the most likely to promote the use in commercial activity and business communication. Consumer sector executives already show predisposition for social media, especially in their personal lives. Social media will only further merge our business and personal lives, according to several top national business reporters we interviewed.
Social networking will also force marketers to become succinct and targeted in their communications to elevate their brands. With increased consumer expectations that marketing messages will become briefer and briefer, we must ensure we do not misread basic outcomes by minimizing necessary information too much. As we accelerate down the social networking highway, we expect there will be a modest correction to again further appreciate in-depth content.
One conclusion is certain: In the new world with tens of thousands of interesting choices, relevance and relationships will remain crucial.
We welcome your input and we’re eager to continue the conversation.
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About the survey
For the survey preparation, Margolis & Company and YPO developed the questions and TNS validated the methodology. The executive interviews were by invitation only and were conducted online and by telephone through a structured questionnaire. Margolis & Company analyzed each interview and TNS co-processed the data.
Special thanks are due to Birgit Johnston, Lisa Spangenberg, Sheldon Renan and Steve Gumplo for their contributions to the survey. We also wish to thank Urbana Creative for its perspective and support.
About Margolis & Company
Founded in 2005, Margolis & Company specializes in business to business public relations and thought leadership. The firm, based in Santa Monica, California, focuses on national and international positioning in the professional/financial services, entertainment/sports and government/non-profit sectors.
Margolis & Company’s track record is tied to more than 15 years of building deep relationships with thousands of top-level national and international media contacts, corporate executives, government officials and community leaders. Decision - makers know the firm is committed to client issues and services that make a difference and are worthy of their attention. For more information, visit www.margoliscompany.com.
About YPO
YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) is a not-for-profit, global network of young chief executives connected around the shared mission of becoming Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange TM. Founded in 1950, YPO today provides 17,000 peers and their families in 100 countries with access to unique experiences, world-class resources, alliances with top learning institutions, and specialized networks that help them enhance their business, community and personal leadership. For more information, www.ypo.org.
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