Digital Digest: Selling-In Social Edition

Digital Digest: What Edelman Canada is reading in digital marketing, technology and strategy. Fresh links served up Fridays.

Many companies maintain cultures that destroy productivity by overworking and undervaluing their employees, wrote Tony Schwartz in the Harvard Business Review this week. Myths such as “multitasking is critical” are obstacles to achieving peak performance at work, he argued, and need to be shown the door. But these companies are not led by bad people, they are simply doing what they have always done.

Many public relations and marketing executives as well are continuing to do what they have always done, caught up in myths such as “you can’t prove the ROI of social media.” In this week’s edition of Edelman Canada’s Digital Digest we give you some tips and tricks for selling-in social media to your bosses and the rest of your organization.

The Time Is Right For Social Business

Leading companies like China Telecom, Nokia and Cemex are adopting social media best practices “to drive brand awareness and ultimately their organization’s bottom line,” argues Alistair Rennie, IBM’s general manager for social business. Organizations on the bleeding edge are “actively combining social networking with sophisticated analytics to glean insights from social activity streams and behaviors to find out what they need to do better to drive financial results.”

Forbes: The Time Is Right For Social Business

How to make the business case for social media

When asked directly by a market research firm, executives reported confusion about what metrics would help them get buy in on social media throughout the whole organization. Even organizations that are doing social media well may not have a defined business case, but selling your bosses on the value of social media isn’t hard if you know what to measure.

SmartBlog: How to make the business case for social media

Research: Social Media Adoption is Slowing

Adoption of Twitter, Facebook and blogs by Fortune 500 companies is leveling off, according to a new study. Twitter, used by 62% of F500 firms, has already achieved widespread adoption, but not even a quarter of the firms examined have updated a blog in the past year. What firms and industries are leading the pack and why?

MarketingProfs: Fortune 500 Adoption of Social Media Slowing

Note: The following brands mentioned in the article above are Edelman clients in Canada and the U.S.: Starbucks, Best Buy, General Motors (Chevy). Just in the U.S.: Wal-Mart, General Electric, Levi Strauss.

Infographic: What Scares Social Media Professionals?

Asked what a social media worst nightmare would look like, one social media pro responded “no commitment from management.” This survey data from Shoutlet, a social media management tool, finds that demonstrating ROI is as much of a priority for social media pros as creating meaningful conversations.

Shoutlet Blog: What’s Really Scary about Social Media?

Brands Create Exec Roles For Social Media

Director of Digital and VP Social Media are becoming increasingly common titles at companies like HBO and Walgreens.  These new roles add to the evidence that, in the words of Sabrina Caluori, HBO’s VP of social media and performance marketing, social media is no longer “just a marketing tactic but…a core communications outlet” that requires its own seat at the table.

ClickZ: Brands Create Exec Roles For Social Media

Case Study: Retailers Use Social Media To Fine-Tune Operations

Social media is a “fast and cost-effective way to gather information about new markets,” says Stephen Wyss of financial services consulting firm BDO USA. Companies like Wal-Mart (an Edelman client in the U.S.), Burberry Group and American Eagle Outfitters are using social media not only for marketing, but also to gather intelligence about what customers want and to plan for next season.

CNBC: Retailers Use Social Media To Fine-Tune Operations

Edelman Canada’s Digital Digest is a weekly bundle of links, served up on Edelman Canada’s Our Ideas blog on Fridays. It’s also available by email. If you know someone who would like to be added to the mailing list, have any questions or just want to share some thoughts on anything you read here, email me. Let’s get a conversation going. 

Digital Digest is edited by Matthew Hayles and Kareena Coelho. Twitter: @midnighthaircut, @Kareena_Coelho