Altimeter Report Points to Need for Social Media Management Systems

Tuesday, 10 January 2012 06:37

(Chris Syme) When Jeremiah Owyang speaks, people listen. An analyst for the Altimeter Group, Owyang just released a comprehensive report on social media management systems that every organization using social media should read. The survey of enterprise-level companies produced some interesting takeaways that apply to every business and organization:

While 70% of companies reported social media was reaching business goals, only 43% had a strategy that actually defined how that would happen. (Reaching an unknown destination without a map?)
Companies had an average of 178 social media accounts within their walls (not including employee accounts), but most do not have an accurate inventory of those accounts. (There's a crisis waiting to happen.)
A small percentage of companies offer training to those using social media on behalf of the company. (Reminder: these are enterprise-level folks.)
Currently, there doesn't seem to be one vendor out there offering a comprehensive and effective social media management system for all the needs of a company that include intense engagement, social broadcasting, platform campaign marketing, distributed brand presence, and customization options. Most companies are patching together multiple applications to take care of everything.

The report is definitely worth a read. Most helpful feature: a checklist on how to select a vendor along with a comparison chart of current offerings out there (page 13 of report). If you're looking at SMMS, or if you are looking to solidify a road map for what you are doing so you know where you're going, take a good look at the report. Thanks to Jason Falls for the heads up on the report.

Click here for the report.