Keynote: Career Path of Corporate Social Strategist

WOMMANovember 18, 2010

Jeremiah OwyangIndustry AnalystPartner, Customer Strategy

The Career Path of the Corporate Social Strategist

© 2010 Altimeter Group

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The World Changed


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An Open Leader Emerges


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Internal Storms Hinder Progress


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Compounding DemandsCompounding Demands


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Two Paths for the Strategist


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Path 1: Grounded to Social Media Help Desk

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Path 2: Achieve Escape Velocity

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About this Research Project


• Background

• Responsibilities

• Program

• Challenges

Career Path: Two Choices

The Future of this Role

Recommendations

Agenda


11

Definition: The Corporate Social Strategist is

the business decision maker of social media

programs – providing leadership, roadmap

definition, innovation; and directly influencing

the spending on technology vendors and

service agencies.


Scope: Companies with over 1000 employees, which we define as enterprise class corporations (SMB data available for clients)

Data Sample: Quantitative and Qualitative

• An online survey of 140 enterprise-class Social Strategists across industries

• 51 interviews and interactions with corporate Social Strategists or topic authorities

• 50 job descriptions on company and recruitment web sites

• 50 LinkedIn profiles of current Social Strategists

• Hundreds of Social Strategist hires catalogued on Web Strategy blog’s “On The Move” series

• Ongoing catalog the “List of Corporate Social Strategists for 2010”

Research Methodology (WOMMA)12




• Background


• Program

• Challenges



Recommendations

Agenda


Their Background


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Digital or marketing background15


Risk-takers and multi-disciplinary


Their Program


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Programs are nascent, lacking long-term direction


Stem from Marketing or Corporate Communications


Limited budgets


Understaffed to serve enterprise

Average team was only 3.1 for companies with 1,000 to < 5,000 employees (Figure 6.5).


Organizational Models


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- One department controls all efforts- Consistent- May not be as authentic- e.g. Ford, Regulated

CENTRALIZED


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ORGANIC

- Organic growth- Authentic- Experimental- Not coordinated- e.g. Sun


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COORDINATED

- One hub sets rules and procedures- Business units undertake own efforts- Spreads widely around the org- Takes time- e.g. Red Cross


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MULTIPLE HUB AND SPOKE OR “DANEDELION”

- Similar to Coordinated but across multiple brands and units

- e.g. HP, Microsoft, Tech Giants


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HOLISTIC OR “HONEYCOMB”

- Each employee is empowered- Unlike Organic, employees are organized- e.g. Twelpforce, Zappos


Five Ways Companies Organize: Hub & Spoke and Centralized

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© 2010 Altimeter Group© 2010 Altimeter Group© 2010 Altimeter Group

Their Challenges


1. Friction from internal culture and a lack of education thwart progress.


“Right now, the social media professional has been a visionary pioneer willing to endure

frustration and criticism by a great many senior corporate people who were set in their ways.”

-@shelisrael


2. Proving real ROI difficult beyond engagement metrics


2. Proving real ROI difficult beyond engagement metrics


3: Serving the Entire Enterprise with Few Resources


“Challenge: budget and resources. It’s not well understood, so its not well funded.”

-Director, Social Media and Community


4. Ever-changing technology space leaves Strategists with “Head Spinning”


Various data types, APIs and reporting, third parties can make changes “on a whim.”


5. Initially perceived as a threat, success breeds jealousy.


“They will get slings and arrows in the front (from customers) and the back (from colleagues), as social

challenges the status quo and existing positions.”

-Director, Corporate Communications and Social Media


6. Internal and external demands are rapidly compounding.


“from 4 to 5 times more requests this year from last.”

-Social Strategist


“There are two people standing in front of my office demanding Facebook pages.”

--Social Strategist




• Background


• Program

• Challenges



Recommendations

Agenda


44

Path 1: Grounded to Social Media Help Desk

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Reactive or Proactive?45


The Tail Spin:

1. As more business units adopt “social media religion” they will start to demand their own Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

2. If the Social Strategist is unable to comply, business units will deploy on their own.

“Facebook Strategy? Yeah my niece is all over it!”

3. Then the Social Strategist succumbs to mere order taking and clean up, relegating themselves to a “Social Media Help Desk.”

Path One: “Social Media Help Desk.” 46


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Path 2: Escape Velocity

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Savvy Social Strategists develop a proactive business program that gets ahead of business – and customer requests.

Serve the entire enterprise as an internal resource –engagement doesn’t scale.

Grow scope beyond their business unit –assisting the end user along the entire customer journey.

Path Two: Escape Velocity 48




• Background


• Program

• Challenges



Recommendations

Agenda

© 2010 Altimeter Group© 2010 Altimeter Group


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Strategists may work themselves out of a role:

• “In five years, this role doesn't exist. The role will be subsumed into every part of the company.”

• “We don't have a ‘verbal communication strategist’ or an ‘email planner’ now.” -@steverubel

Yet, we expect that these corporate entrepreneurs will likely move on the next wave of emerging technologies.

If successful, they work themselves out of a job51


While these technologies are disruptive today, they will eventually become the norm.

• Every customer touchpoint in their journey

• All departments

• Like “Air” – it’s pervasive

As we heard from one Social Strategist:

• “The need for a dedicated staff will diminish, social will be a part of the fabric - marketing, PR, IT.”

The program transcends marketing – to span the entire customer journey

52


John Bell, Global Managing Director at Olgivy’s 360 Digital Influence team, said:

• “In two years, Social Strategists are involved in every marketing operation at the table. In five years, they are at the head of the table.” -@jbell99

Thus, today’s Social Strategist may rise to executive status

• VP of Customer Experience

• Chief Customer Officer

• A role we’ve yet to imagine

Some will have opportunity for the Corner Office53




• Background


• Program

• Challenges



Recommendations

Agenda


55

How to Achieve Escape Velocity

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This independent research report was 100% funded by Altimeter Group.

This report is published under the principle of Open Research and is available at no cost.

The Creative Commons License is Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us.

Open Research: Use and Share with Attribution56

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us


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1. A proactive mindset is required –or end up in social media

sanitation.

2. Do this by setting up requirements for social media engagement

before the Business Units ask.

3. Get to Hub and Spoke formation(s) quickly. (Tip: Governance >

Process > Education) covertly manifests COE

4. Become an enabler for Business Units, you can never hire

enough community managers or deploy and manage efforts

5. Deploy scalable programs: communities, advocacy, SMMS, invest

in SCRM. Dialog does not scale.

6. Over time, think and deploy greater than the marketing

department –the duration of your role is limited

Six Steps to Achieve Escape Velocity –and Stay out of the Social Media Help Desk


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Jeremiah OwyangIndustry Analyst

[email protected]

m

web-strategist.com/blog

Twitter: jowyang

THANK YOU

With assistance from Christine Tran, Andrew Jones, and Charlene Li

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Altimeter Group is a research-based advisory firm that

helps companies and industries leverage disruption to

their advantage. We have four areas of focus:

Leadership and Management, Customer Strategy,

Enterprise Strategy, and Innovation and Design.

Visit us at http://www.altimetergroup.com or contact

[email protected].

ABOUT US

http://www.altimetergroup.com/

1. Steve Bendt, Senior Marketing Manager, Social Media, Best Buy

2. Richard Binhammer, Senior Manager, Strategic Corporate Communications, Dell

3. LaSandra Brill, Senior Manager, Global Social Media, Cisco Systems Inc.

4. Rebecca Brown, Director, Social Media Strategy, Intel Corporation

5. Kelly Colbert, Director, Marketing Strategy, Wellpoint 6. Marty Collins, Director, Emerging Media, Microsoft 7. Florence Drakton, Social Media Manager, Toyota Motor

Sales U.S.A. 8. Kati Driscoll, Community Specialist, Social Media, AAA 9. Bert DuMars, Vice President, E-Business & Interactive

Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid 10. Frank Eliason, Senior Vice President, Social Media, Citi 11. Kimberley Gardiner, Manager, Marketing, Toyota Motor

Sales U.S.A. 12. Jeannette Gibson, Director, Social Media Marketing, Cisco

Systems Inc. 13. Jamie Grenney, Senior Director, Social Media,

Salesforce.com 14. Julie Haddon, Senior Director, Global Social Media, eBay

inc.15. Gareth Hornberger, Coordinator, Social Media, Levi’s 16. Ken Kaplan, Manager, New Media and Broadcast, Intel 17. Steven Lazarus, Lead Strategist, Social Media & Interactive

Marketing, IBM 18. Jason Long, Community Manager, QlikTech 19. Dan Maloney, Global Vice President, Ecosystem Business

Development & Web Strategy, SAP 20. Manish Mehta, VP, Social Media & Community, Dell

21. Scott Monty, Manager, Global Digital & Multimedia Communications, Ford Motor Company

22. Petra Neiger, Senior Manager, Global Social Media, Cisco Systems Inc.

23. Marcus Nelson, Director, Social Media, Salesforce.com 24. Bowen Payson, Manager, Online & Digital Marketing, Virgin

America25. Holly Potter, Vice President, Public Relations, Kaiser

Permanente26. Maria Poveromo, Director, Social Media, Adobe Systems 27. Toby Richards, General Manager, Community & Online

Support, Microsoft 28. Chip Rogers, Vice President and COO, SAP Community

Network and Ecosystem Events 29. Vanessa Sain-Dieguez, Strategist, Social Media, Hilton

Worldwide 30. Dan Schick, Manager, Web Communications, TELUS

Communications 31. Daniel Schmidt, Senior Product Manager, CBS Interactive 32. Liya Sharif, Director, Marketing, Qualcomm 33. Peter Simonsen, Senior Director, Web, QlikTech 34. Ted Sindzinski, Manager, Internet Marketing, Monster

Cable Products 35. Shiv Singh, Head of Digital, PepsiCo Beverages North

America 36. Kim Snedaker, Manager, Social Media, AAA 37. Ed Terpening, Vice President, Social Media Marketing,

Wells Fargo 38. Alexandra Wheeler, Director, Digital Strategy, Starbucks 39. Mark Yolton, Senior Vice President, SAP Community

Network

Interviews with Corporate Social Strategists (39)

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1. Tac Anderson, Vice President, Digital Strategies, Waggener Edstrom

2. David Armano, Senior Vice President, Digital, Edelman

3. Tom Bedecarre, CEO, AKQA

4. John Bell, Managing Director & Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

5. Andrea Harrison, Vice President, Strategy, Razorfish

6. Liza Hausman, Vice President, Marketing, Gigya

7. Shel Israel, CEO, SI Associates

8. Peter Kim, Managing Director, North America, Dachis Group

9. Jennifer Leggio, Social Business Blogger, CBS Interactive (ZDNet)

10. Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President, Insights, Edelman Digital

11. Andy Sernovitz, CEO, SocialMedia.org / Social Media Business Council

12. Dan Ziman, Vice President, Marketing, Lithium Technologies Inc.

Interviews: Topic Authorities61


Charlene Li, Partner, Altimeter Group

Christine Tran, Researcher, Altimeter Group

Andrew Jones, Researcher, Altimeter Group

Susan Etlinger, Altimeter Group

Prathima Murphy, Altimeter Group

Tarah Remington Brown, WOMMA

Ann Handley, MarketingProfs

Asha Hossain Design, Inc.

Sonal Mehta, Student

Jennifer McClure, Society for New Communications Research;

Anita Wong, Student

Gil Yehuda, GilYehuda.com

Contributor Recognition62

Keynote: Career Path of Corporate Social Strategist

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