Social Media Poll Results: Ad Hoc Trumps Structured Plans
Martin Schneider, 03/12/2009, posted in "Analysis"
Martin Schneider is Director of Product Marketing at SugarCRM. In his role, Martin handles competitive intelligence, marketing positioning and analyst relations. Prior to joining SugarCRM, Martin held the position ...more info
Martin Schneider is Director of Product Marketing at SugarCRM. In his role, Martin handles competitive intelligence, marketing positioning and analyst relations. Prior to joining SugarCRM, Martin held the position of senior analyst with technology industry research firm the 451 Group, headquartered in NYC. Martin covered the CRM landscape for the 451, analysing and consulting on such topics as Software-as-a-Service, business intelligence and open source applications. Martin also covered the CRM space as news editor with CRM Magazine in New York. ...less info
I have been posting monthly polls on the blog and through Tweetpoll. Last month I asked readers about their social media engagement strategies.
Now, it may seem a bit like using a stacked deck in using social media like blogs and Twitter to ask about social CRM strategies…however the results were pretty varied.
Surprisingly, one quarter of the respondents said they had s “structured, clear engagement strategy in place.” I am happy to see that companies are taking social media seriously, and attacking it as they would any other departmental objective.
Almost half, about 44% of respondents, said that their employees were engaging with prospects and customers via social media in an “ad hoc” fashion. I think this is promising news.
While these companies have not yet put in place the social media policies that will unify and govern their activities (and provide a consistent yet authentic voice to the customer) their employees “get it.” I assume in a few months if the same companies were polled again, some of those in this bucket would have structured plans in place.
Eleven percent of respondents said that they were “thinking about” leveraging social media to engage with their prospects and customers. Again, a very good sign.
I guess I am not surprised that 14% of respondents had no definite plan in place. But again, a good sign is that they are out there on Twitter and the blogosphere finding information about the concepts.
Finally, I think the poll showed that social media is definitely not a fad, and soon (if not already) will be just another channel that businesses seek to leverage as they engage with prospects and customers.
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