The State of Corporate Social Programs

Spredfast, a social business software provider for corporate social media management, released the first Social Engagement Index Benchmark Report to highlight key social media trends across the brand and to help companies assess the success of their social media programs against their peers. With data from 154 companies the report gives quantitative insights into the structure, configuration, and social activities.

Commitment to social business

Companies of all sizes are active on social channels and are at different stages in the development of more sophisticated social programs. Spredfast categorized the 154 companies into three distinct segments with similar levels of internal and external engagement: Activating, Expanding, and Proliferating.

First conclusion? A brand’s level of social engagement is more influenced by its commitment to social business than its size.

The report is full of data and nice insights. So take the time to read it, but here are the key trends across the industry:

• Social media is no longer one person’s or one team’s job.
  On average, 29 people are participating in social programs across 11 business groups and 51 social accounts! No more one social champion or social media team that “owns†all social activity. The trend is to activate more people within several departments to have more targeted, relevant conversations. Did I say Conversation Company? 😉
• Social is allowing companies to communicate directly with an “opted in†network.
  Companies have an average social network size of 1.8 million people, potentially reaching 47 million impressions over one quarter. Pair the increasing pace of audience acquisition with a high level of activity, and brands are increasing the chances of being seen in coveted news feeds.
  
• Publishing is heavier on Twitter, engagement is higher on Facebook.
  Companies publish nearly three times as often on Twitter compared Facebook, but Facebook yields 9x the engagement for each message published. But don’t jump to the conclusion. Some brands found the opposite! So dive into your company objectives, your industry and audience and decide which social network would perform the best for your company.
• Corporate social programs are multi-channel, requiring employees to participate in multiple roles.
  It’s not about adopting one network. Companies are using at least 3 social networks and assign up several employees to have the the right people with the right and optimize the engagement in the best way.

Key areas of opportunities for social brands.

Based to the research to the report gives several opportunities for brands:

• Delivering More, Quality Content.
  Not an eye-opener but companies that deliver engaging content and messages will reap benefits in the form of a more highly engaged audience.
• Uncovering Contextual Learnings from Social Activity
  Engagement is exciting. But really understand why a case has a high engagement rate is key for optimizing your future content. Always ask yourself why was this engaging content?
• Understanding Social Network Utility
  Some industries represented in this report saw greater engagement across Twitter than Facebook. So dive into your company objectives, your industry and audience and decide which social network would perform the best for your company.
• Segmenting Groups and Users to Focus Efforts
  Expand social beyond the regular marketing or customer service teams and engage subject matter experts in social activity to deliver relevant, interesting content to audiences. Pair the right people with the right channels to give a greater level of focus and personalization of social activity.
• Opportunity to Convert
  Many companies still report that brand awareness and reputation are leading goals for their social programs. But audience members are willing to leave their social network experience and be led to other information. So companies have the opportunity to link to corporate websites, landing pages etc. to inform and convert through subsequent actions.

A free copy of the 30-page report can be requested at Spredfast.