Does Your Company have a Social Media Parachute?

Oct. 25, 2010

social media wear A recent study by New Jersey based, Digital Brand Expressions,is a great source of information on how companies are adopting social media within their organizations.

According to the report,

“In the current marketplace, it’s fairly well established that social media is a channel that businesses must participate in, leaving CEOs with the new challenge of planning and implementing brand aligned initiatives enterprise-wide and gaining control to ensure brand protection as well as network and intellectual property security.”

Some key findings from the report include:

78% of respondents said they are using social media, but only 41% say they have a strategic plan in place for social media use.
71% of respondents said that their Marketing Department is the group with the primary responsibility for social media.
Only 16% of companies are using social media for recruiting purposes and only 26% are using it for customer service purposes.
88% of companies agree that it’s important to have a social media plan (even if they don’t already).

The study has some excellent statistics on social media adoption and is worth taking a look at. We were especially surprised by the statement that only 41% of companies have a social media strategic plan, despite the fact that 88% felt it was important.

Without a strategic social media plan a company leaves itself open to extreme risks, especially because even if they don’t have an official corporate account, most likely the majority of their employees are already taking part. It’s especially important if you’re planning on adopting social media that you have a strong strategic plan prepared. Knowing things like, who’s going to own social media as an initiative, what your organization’s rules are for social media use, where you’re going to be taking part, how you’re going to measure your success and what tools you’re going to use, can help keep your implementation simple, as well as help to mitigate the risks associated with social media.

Image by JustBeadiful on Flickr.

Posted by Amberlie Denny at October 25, 2010 8:00 AM