eyes on your neighbor’s work
June 11th, 2009 • posts i've written
I’ve been jotting notes in the margins of late on the subject of this whole social media phenom and its actual use among brands and agencies.
Like the planner survey, I’m putting together a medium sized survey to pass around the web to take the pulse of the what, why, where, and what the hell for social media (specifically the being social part) and its uses. I plan on wrapping up a concise report to share along with the full data set.
But I need YOUR help.
I need people to care about taking and spreading the survey.
Which means people need to be invested in learning what the survey could possibly answer.
Which means I need to know what YOU care about learning.
Here are topics I’m already considering:
- Who’s doing the actual social outreach: the brands, the agencies, the PR firms, the interns?
- What are the resources being allocated by brands: size of their own teams, budgets, and more?
- What are the typical job titles and salaries for the people doing the work?
- What are the most used mechanisms for social outreach: email, phone, twitter, facebook pages… ?
- What are the business objectives, and how is social media being measured and reported?
- How are learnings from interaction with your customers affecting the actual production of your products?
- I’m interested in success stories beyond the usual suspects
And I’d like to segment this data by industry, company type (brand, agency, PR firm, etc), size, country/region…
In the comment box below, please help answer: what am I missing, what specifically should I be asking, has another survey already accomplished this, do you give a shit?
Related posts:
- put your work where your mouth is
- social media practitioner survey
- final week for social media survey responses
8 Responses (add your comment)
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I wonder if “social media” isn’t a contradiction in terms, like “mass communication.”
I have a hunch that, if one of the survey questions were “Have you ever used the phrase ’social media’?”, the majority of those that answer “yes” are in mass communication or advertising, at some level, whatever the message or product may be. Those that answer “no” are part of the audience, some “target demographic,” who probably never thought of mass communication or advertising as being “social.”
Maybe I haven’t been able to shift my own paradigm.
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jason Gingold June 11, 2009at 11:13 am
curious about all aspects of the setup:
(btw – i have my own answers to all of these, but will save them for the survey itself)“SELL IN/BUY IN”
* did your client approach you about a social program or did you approach them?
* if it was your suggestion, how did you go about selling the idea to the client?
* how long did that take?
* what did you use as compelling motivation?
* was the offering related to an ongoing creative campaign? or was it just an offer of a social networking program in general? or was it two or three specific “you should be on _____” suggestions?“EXECUTION”
* does your client have access to outreach themselves or is it run out of the agency?
* did your agency hire somebody specifically to take on the role of community organizer/outreach specialist? is it being done by a creative? by a strategist? by an account person?
* is this person committed full-time to monitoring/dialoguing/etc or is it a part-time endeavor?
* if the agency runs the outreach, has the client signed-off on control. meaning – is there carte blanche as to frequency and content, or are there checkpoints and/or red tape?“MEASUREMENT/REPORTING”
* how often is this done?
* what tools (radian6, meteor, etc.) are you employing to help out?
* is monitoring done in-house or through a 3rd party (spring creek group, etc.)?
* what information is the client looking for?
* what information is the most compelling to you?
* what are you/client looking for in terms of success?i’m sure there are others, but there’s a start.
good luck, Bud.
let us know when the survey is ready.
-jG -
Kim Herperger June 11, 2009at 2:32 pm
I’d like to find out how social media is being used by non-profits/associations and by organizations that don’t have big budgets.
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Love the idea, thanks for the intiative, I’ll be pleased to help.
One thing that could be interesting to look at is the funding. Does it come from Internet marketing budget or global marketing-communications budget?
Also, another interesting topic I’m dealing with: should this be financed at a local market level ie: Canada when it benefits to almost all your English-spoken audience (ie: US, UK…). So why a local market should finance something that benefits the online brand at large?
Cheers,
Isabelle
Twitter: @DigitalPlanner -
I agree about the business objectives question- I’m curious about whether business are specifically trying to directly monetize social media operations, or engaging in social media functions is still in a “keeping up with the Joneses” type phase, or just in the “let’s see where this goes” phase.
Again, an offshoot of a previously mentioned question, but I’d be interested to know specific ages of people engaging in social media initiatives. Social media is very much something that started with the college-age population and has made an impact later in the business world, and among older demographics.
Let us know when the survey is ready!
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I’d be most interested to hear a brand’s perspective on why they are investing in social media? How do they quantify/ measure they engagement? Are they ok with the qual nature of the measurement instead of the more quant/ stat type analytics they are used to ?
Also, do they consider social media a top/ C-level priority or is it just an entry to mid-level managers listed job duty ? -
Spence June 19, 2009at 3:18 pm
As an artist my concern is outside of the business objectives and monetary incentives being mentioned here, I’d be interested in knowing how social media is effecting the individual? To what degree is it a benefit and has it changed our perception of “friends” and the group or “tribe” that we feel connected to? Is it enhancing the individuals connection with the world or obliterating quality for quantity? Does it have any effect, either positive or negative, on the frequency and quality of face to face communication?
Definitely care. Will help spread the word. Want to know the result.
It’ll be great to add something with relation to social media measurement as well. Asking people if they measure their personal brand on social media or for their company.