Participating in the Social Media Ecosystem

Categorized | Community & Social Media Research, Featured Posts, Listening, Social Media, Strategy

Participating in the Social Media Ecosystem

Posted on19 January 2010.

Last month, the Online Community Research Network conducted our second study that examines how community and social media professionals engage in the social media ecosystem, Participating in the Social Media Ecosystem. In April 2009, we conducted the Social Media Ecosystem study to gain a better understanding of how organizations were managing their hosted and external online community touch points.

Our goal with the Participating in the Social Media Ecosystem report was to gain more information on how companies participate, how frequently they engage in activities in the social media ecosystem, who manages the participation, and what value participants’ companies have gained from their activities.

We received approximately 125 responses. Participants represent a healthy swath of the types of organizations participating in online community building activities, including: large software companies, large community destination sites, niche community sites, platform providers, interactive marketing firms and independent consultants.

A sample of the 125+ organizations that participated include (with their permission):
Microsoft, Intuit, Best Buy, Cisco, Museum of Life and Science, VMWare, BusinessWeek, Autodesk, Consumer Reports, Time Inc., REI, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Quest Software, WiserEarth, Current TV, and TripIt.

Several key issues pertaining to participating in social media ecosystems surfaced during this report, including:

More than half of the participants, 56%, have developed a comprehensive social media strategy within the last 6 months compared. In our last Social Media Ecosystems study in March of 2009, only 18% of the respondents had a comprehensive strategy in place.
The two most common changes respondents made in their social media strategies over the last six months are:
- Utilization of Social Media Sites, such as Twitter and Facebook
- Refinement based on Lessons Learned

Twitter and Facebook emerged as the prevailing social media sites. 92% of respondents use Twitter and 87% of respondents use Facebook.
Google Analytics is the most commonly used tool to measure participation in the ecosystem.

Job Titles
A large percentage of the respondents have high level positions within their organization such as Owner, Partner, Director, CEO, CFO, Vice President or Manager. Over a third of the participants are managers 35%, with the title ‘Social Media Manager’ or ‘Community Manager’ being the most common management title reported. Other management positions that respondents held were Project Manager, Product Manager, Program Manager and Marketing Manager.
Other common job titles included: Principal, Account Executive, Community / Social Media Strategist, Social Media Coordinator and Consultant.

It is interesting to note that 26 of the respondents have the word “Community” in their job title, whereas only 11 have ”Social Media” in their job title.

Social Media Strategy
More than half of the participants, 56%, have developed a comprehensive social media strategy within the last 6 months and 30% (37) are currently working on a comprehensive social media strategy.

Social Media Strategy Changes
Respondents indicated that the most common change in their social media strategies over the last six months was the utilization, integration and enhancements of social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. The integration and enhancement of Twitter was the most commonly reported change. Some participants felt that staying current with these social media sites was critical to their company’s marketing and outreach. Some respondents indicated that they had also created a blog within the last six months.

Content Monitoring Responsibility
Almost three quarters of the respondents, 71% (61), said that an employee that holds a manager role in is responsible for creating and monitoring social media content for their organization. These managers include Community Managers, Marketing Managers, Social Media Managers and Program Managers.

22% (19) have a Community Manager responsible for creating content
22% (19) have a Marketing Manager responsible for creating content
21% (18) have a Social Media Manager responsible for creating content
2% (2) have a Moderator responsible for creating content
2% (2) have a C-Level Executive responsible for creating content
25% (22) have Other people responsible for creating content

Key Social Media Sites
Twitter and Facebook are by far the most popular social media sites, according to the respondents. 92% the respondents said that they utilize Twitter and 87% said that they utilize Facebook. Several respondents indicated from the answer to a previous question, that Twitter was introduced in their organization within the last 6 months.

The other most commonly used social media sites are:
• 75% (95) of respondents said that they used Blogs
• 71% (90) of respondents said that they used LinkedIn
• 71% (89) of respondents said that they used YouTube

The least utilized social media sites, included Sphinn, iLike, Slashdot, Techmeme, and Friendster.

The Complete Participating in the Social Media Ecosystem Report
The full 33 page report can be purchased here: http://store.onlinecommunityresearch.com/painsomeec.html and includes detailed information, analysis and charts on: