At The CMO Club Summit today, I moderated a discussion among 35+ CMOs about social media. It was really a lively conversation representing the range of experiences of these CMOs. The group divided into three segments, from novices to making their way to “kicking butt and taking names.” David Spark provides a quick overview of the discussion on TheCMOClub site (yes, the very same social network that Renegade helped create!) but I thought add some more detail given the broad interest in the topic.
Introduction to Social Media
Here’s the definition of social media marketing from Frog Design’s blog that I used to start the discussion:
Social media marketing is all marketing that utilizes the social graph of both marketer and audience (in fact, the interesting thing is that they can be one and the same) to facilitate and cultivate a conversation. Social marketing is whenever more than two individuals collaborate online or offline for content generation and distribution. Social marketers harness the viral power of social networks in order to grow both the frequency and the reach of conversations exponentially. They know how to feed the social orbit with content that catalyzes conversations. And they understand that an “architecture of participation,” that lets employees be marketers, has become paramount for turning brands into live brands.
Social Media Numbers (or why CMO’s should care)
- 62% of consumers actively seek out and read customer reviews prior to purchase
- 82% of consumers found reading reviews better than researching a product in-store
- 60% of Americans use social media
- 59% interact with companies via social media; 25% do so once a week or more
- 93% of those that use SM believe companies should too
- 56% feel stronger connection to companies that they interact with via SMcompanies should use social networks to solve my problems
- 43% believe companies should use social networks to solve my problems
- 41% believe companies should solicit feedback on their products/services
- 37% want more ways to interact with companies
Renegade also created a Social Media IQ test for these CMO’s at CMOquiz.com which may be of interest.
wow -> And they understand that an “architecture of participation,” that lets employees be marketers, has become paramount for turning brands into live brands.
I really like that. This is what I pitch too when I meet a customer. The truth is that many corporate employees already engage in Internet conversations. They connect with customers and Internet media influencers, and learn from these exchanges. Although these interactions generally foster a positive image for their respective organizations and brands, there is no assurance that they can’t also create negative momentum, inadvertently or that what they learn benefits the whole organization because it’s not well orchestrated.
I think CMOs have an opportunity to position marketing as the chief of orchestra of all these interactions. Marketing will design social media program, manage and measure their effectiveness but the whole company will be involved in it thus making them scalable which is a big issue that has received a lot of attention (blog post) in social media.
Thanks Laurent. Yes, Frog’s definition is spot on. Also, what was really impressive about the discussion group was that each CMO recognized that social media needed to be a real priority for them in 2009 regardless of their current participation.