Following in the footsteps of consumers, large international companies are now becoming active participants in social media. A recent Burson-Marsteller study found that 79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs. Read more…

Via Mashable.

Wondering what all this social media excitement is about? Mashable proposes a 10-minute video mashup of the 5 best books about social media: Trust Agents, The Whuffie Factor, Six Pixels of Separation, Crush It, The New Community Rules. Enjoy!

Via GlobeCorp.

This was one year ago…

The top CEOs in the country appear to be mostly absent from the social media community. That’s the result from research we conducted over the past several weeks. We looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog. The results show a miserable level of engagement.

Read more at ÜberCEO…

Via Emilie Ogez News.

Part I - The Wikipedia Myth

Part II - People at the Center

Part III - Getting started

The 2009 survey shows that there is great reputational risk associated with social networking as 74 percent of those surveyed believe it is easy to damage a brand’s reputation via sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

As this medium is evolving, there are different opinions about use and access. For example, 60 percent of business executives say they have the “right to know” how employees portray themselves and their organizations online, while 53 percent of the employees contend that “social networking pages are none of an employer’s business.”

So what should business leaders do? One option is to establish policies and protocols. However, nearly half of the respondents say that such guidelines will not change how they behave in cyberspace. Therefore, organizations should emphasize culture, values, and ethics in order to mitigate reputational risk in these online communities.

Read more…

Update: on Slideshare (via Demain la veille)

Jeremiah Owyang, a leading social media thinker at Forrester Research, took some time with Stowe Boyd to share observations about the state of practice and the future of enterprise 2.0.

Via Enterprise 2.0 blog.

According to the “The ROI on Social Media Marketing” report from the Aberdeen Group, marketers have developed the tools and methodologies to drive marketing ROI by listening to and learning from customers and prospects.

Aberdeen found that 63% of the companies in their survey (defined as best-in-class) planned to increase their social media marketing budgets this year.

eMarketer estimates that social network advertising alone will rise over 17% this year to $2.35 billion, up from $2 billion in 2008.

Read more at eMarketer…

The recession has put more pressure on interactive marketers to deliver measurable results. While many marketing budgets are being cinched, more than 50% of interactive marketers say they will increase their spending on social marketing. Why? These inexpensive tools can quickly get marketing messages out through interactive discussion and rapid word of mouth and, properly managed, can deliver measurable results. But in this downturn, interactive marketers must move beyond experimentation by making social applications a permanent part of marketing, measuring and demonstrating their value, and integrating them into marketing efforts.

Read more at Forrester Research…

Une étude publiée par l’institut américain Cone présente les attentes des utilisateurs américains par rapport à la présence des marques sur les médias sociaux.

- 60% des utilisateurs interagissent avec les marques dans leur utilisation des médias sociaux.
- 93% des utilisateurs déclarent qu’une entreprise devrait être présente sur les médias sociaux.
- 85% des utilisateurs estiment qu’une entreprise doit non seulement être présente mais aussi interagir avec ses clients sur les médias sociaux.
- 53% des utilisateurs sentent une relation plus forte et ont le sentiment d’être mieux écoutés, compris et servi par une marque lorsque celle-ci est présente sur les médias sociaux.
- 43% des utilisateurs pensent que les entreprises devraient utiliser les médias sociaux pour les aider à résoudre leurs problèmes (service client).
- 41% des utilisateurs estiment que les marques devraient utiliser les médias sociaux pour demander des suggestions et des feedbacks de leurs clients sur leurs produits et services.

Via Médias Sociaux

Cone just released its 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study showing that almost 60 percent of Americans interact with companies on a social media web site, and one in four interact more than once per week.

According to the survey, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

When asked about specific types of interactions, Americans believe:

• - Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
• - Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)
• - Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)
• - Companies should market to consumers (25%)

Read more…

Smart enterprises are deploying blogs and wikis to power the Enterprise front line: Sales. Use cases may involve using Enterprise 2.0 technology to distribute timely market information, maintain a continuous loop of customer feedback, or maintain a wiki to manage selling points, FAQs, and collateral.

The Aberdeen Group is working to build benchmarks for how enterprises are deploying social media in general, and for various use cases like Sales. They just launched a benchmark study called “Sales 2.0: Getting Social About Selling”. Participants to the survey will receive a complimentary copy of the report ($399 value) allowing them to benchmark their sales performance and enterprise-wide use of social media against peers and Best-in-Class companies. The report is expected to be available on October 1st, 2008.

Via Traction Software.