Graduating Social Media Academy consultants have just concluded an intensive study on corporate social presence in the marketplace. In an upcoming July 22 webinar, members of the Leadership Class will present the results of the group’s collaborative research revealing some remarkable and insightful findings about what is working for (and what is working against) businesses in the use of social media.
Applying a quadrant-based social media assessment methodology, the group studied Citrix Systems, a multinational software and services corporation perhaps best known for the product: Go To Meeting (TM) and Webex, a similar product of the Cisco Corporation.
In evaluating each corporation’s presence in the market, the group (which includes The Obvious Expert’s Elsom Eldridge III and Mark Eldridge) looked at the use of social presence, relative to (1) customers, (2) brand, (3) partners, and (4) competitors.
In addition to the value of social media for developing a company’s own brand and establishing or strengthening customer relationships, assessment of social media tools enables companies to evaluate both its partners and its competition.
In a business environment where much of the battle for customer mindshare is being waged on the social web, the ways in which any business uses social media tools to interface with its customers are critical. In fact, that has become so critical, that a company, which has yet to utilize social media at all has, in choosing not to act, assumed a social web position that is seriously impacting its business and its customer relationship building capacity. The theory here goes back to that age-old business marketing lesson that is reproving its validity in the new marketing battleground of the social web: “Fail to brand yourself purposefully, and your clients, customers, competitors, and your enemies will brand you by default.” One of the group’s most reassuring findings is that failure by a company to utilize social media tools thus far doesn’t have to be a death sentence, and subsequent negative branding created as a result of such delay, can still be redirected or reframed.
A Fourfold Assessment of Social Media
Identified as “Ecosystem assessment” the first quadrant of the study evaluated customers (and prospects) in terms of what they like, engage or argue about, discuss, and explore. What are customers saying and what are they looking for?
“Brand assessment” includes both how a product or service is perceived in the market and how the company’s executives and team members are viewed by customers and prospects.
Evaluating the subjects’ “Partners and alliances” includes assessing how these other companies engage on the social web, and how they support or fail to support the customer experience.
Lastly, the study analyzes the “Competition factor” as related to the use of the social web. How do you shape your customer’s experience in the face of the marketing and relationship building efforts of your competitors? What do you look at regarding your brand vs. the brand of other companies in your field?
Some of the findings of this unique study will reinforce what you already know (or thought you knew). But some of it may be quite startling to you.
Join Elsom Eldridge III, Mark Eldridge, and other social media consultants from the Social Media Academy in the webinar: “Citrix /Webex. A Social Media Case Study”. This provocative and highly informative 1-hour event will leave you with a greater understanding of social media for business (any business, any size). It will help you know what to do for your business, even if your business is doing nothing (or little) for itself. And perhaps most importantly, this enlightening social media webinar will help you understand how to assess what you are doing, not doing, and what you should be doing. Even though damage done can be reparable, without a thorough and appropriately targeted case study, it is almost impossible to launch an effective social media campaign … you simply won’t be able to project what will work and which strategies—no matter how cool they seem— will turn out to be counterproductive efforts.
Get inspired. You will find the webinar’s message unique and provocative. Mark your calendar. Rearrange your life. Do whatever it takes, but commit to 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (that’s 16:00 GMT and Noon Eastern, here in the US), Wednesday, July 22, 2009 to attending the no-charge, Citrix/Webex Social Media Case Study webinar.
