A few months ago we released a survey to our networks as a temperature check to determine the state of companies and their social media strategy at a high level by posing a few key questions. 

The State of Social Media 2020 survey received over 150 responses from marketing professionals, active consumers of social media and business thought leaders. Through an analysis of the responses to the five statements below, a story was revealed: we are living in a time of large scale disruption, unique innovation and exponential technological advancement. And to avoid getting left behind (think Blockbuster), it is vital that we are not just tuned into the conversations in and around our respective industries, but are also active participants in those discussions.

These are the 5 statements we posed. Respondents answered on a scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree.

• Q1: I fully understand how creating a social media employee advocacy program can greatly impact our sales and sales leads.
• Q2: People trust people more than people trust brands.
• Q3: I believe our company has fully integrated social media into the heart of our company, leveraging it to build thought leadership as well as engage and communicate with employees and service our customers.
• Q4: Our company’s social media budget is allocated efficiently.
• Q5: My brand’s social media presence is stronger than our #1 competitor.

Here’s what we discovered: 

1. Companies understand the importance of an employee advocacy program, but they are unsure of how to put it into practice; and, let’s be honest, this requires some deep dedication to spearhead in the beginning. But the truth is that without the initial investment of time and other resources, businesses will miss out on the opportunity to leverage one of their most valuable assets: their people.
2. It is important not to undercut the importance of trust and its ability to enhance the customer acquisition process. We can do this by being more authentic in how we interact and engage. According to the 2018 Price of Trustworthiness Research Report, trustworthiness is 53% more important than willingness to work hard, willingness to take risk, good looks, and intelligence combined. Consider State Farm’s personification of your good neighbor who is reliable and always there for you. Seems small, but there’s a reason they were voted Reader’s Digest’s Most Trusted Home Insurance brand for 2020. Social media offers that opportunity for companies to publicly position both their brand and their employees as trusted resources and subject matter experts, which is a further reinforcement of your brand’s trustworthiness.
3. Social media planning has to be a non-negotiable aspect of strategic planning if firms are planning to sustain a long-term competitive advantage in an ever-evolving Digital First era. We found in our study that more than 60% of our respondents did not believe their company was in a position to successfully compete against its #1 rival. If your own people aren’t given a voice in the marketplace, how can customers then believe in the power of your brand? Dell recognized many years ago that their frontline employees have the depth of knowledge to better assist customers and potential customers than their centralized marketing organizations. As a result, they trained more than 10,000 employees in social media to be that voice.
4. B2B or B2C is irrelevant in a lot of cases. It’s all about your relationships. Human to Human (H2H) contact or interactions cannot be substituted.  But there must be alternative processes in place to maintain business leads, client needs and other interactions without access to traditional physical spaces. And more importantly, we need to give our employees the tools and training to foster these types of conversations — even in virtual environments. Now, more than ever, we have to focus on PEOPLE.