Walter Adamson

Only 9% of Inc 500 do not use social media in 2009

Reporting on other surveys of social media trends I said that "The only thing certain about surveys of the business use of social media is that the trend is UP."

This was confirmed again by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth which has followed up on its 2007 and 2008 studies of social media usage by the Inc. 500 with the release of its 2009 survey.

Adoption and awareness continue to trend upward, with 91% of firms using at least one social media tool in 2009 and three-quarters describing themselves as “very familiar” with social networking.

Companies were also monitoring mentions of their brands in the social media space, at 68% this year. That figure was climbing steadily, up from 60% in 2008 and 50% in 2007, reports eMarketer.com.

According to the Center the INC 500 are outpacing the Fortune 500 in the use of social media, a trend continuing into 2009.

I wonder if this is really correct in 2009?

According to the Center - in 2007, the Center’s first study of this group and their use of social media was released and revealed that the Inc. 500 was outpacing the more traditional and larger Fortune 500 companies in their use of social media. For example, at that time, some research showed that 8% of the Fortune 500 companies were blogging compared to 19% of the Inc. 500. This difference continued in 2008 with 16% of the Fortune 500 blogging vs. 39% of the Inc. 500. And it appears the Inc. 500’s lead in blogging will continue in 2009 with the Inc. 500 now blogging at a rate of 45%.

For example the Social Media Academy, in a recent survey, found that 70% of the Fortune 500 are engaged in social media. The difference between this 70% and the CMR's 80% may only be statistical or errors from the survey questions. For example in the CMR survey only 148 out of the Inc 500 responded.

Other findings

The CMR study had a few other interesting findings which were not generally reported on or picked up from the press release.

1.  For the first time in this series of studies on the Inc. 500, executives were asked if their company uses social media tools to communicate with other companies like vendors, suppliers or partners. Again, social networking is the most widely used with 34% reporting they employed these tools. Twitter is being used by 26% of the Inc. 500 for this purpose. It is interesting to note that 1 in 4 Inc. 500 companies consider Twitter an appropriate vehicle for B2B communications.

2.  Another question added to the 2009 study focused on the company’s use of search engine and/or social networking tools to recruit and evaluate potential employees. With the ease of access to information on people, it is no surprise that over half of the Inc. 500 are using search engines to assist in the recruitment and evaluation process. Google was the most popular search engine cited by executives. Forty-eight percent indicated using social networking sites such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

3.  When queried on the importance of social media, 26% of respondents in 2007 felt that social media is "very important" to their business and marketing strategy. That figure rose to 44% in approximately one year. It remains virtually the same in 2009. It is clear that this group of fast-growing companies considers the use of social media as a central part of their strategic plans.

http://xeesm.com/walter 

Dr Semmoto and the eMobile magic pudding of Japan's telecom industry

I'm interested in mobile internet (meaning mobile phones using Internet) and used to follow the Japanese market and industry quite closely. The emergence of eMobile shook up the industry, and all the more so since it was started by one of the industry founders who is both a big business executive and an entrepreneur. 

Dr. Semmoto is an extremely successful Japanese multi-entrepreneur. He is one of the co-founders of DDI (today part of KDDI), he founded the ADSL provider eAccess, and in 2005 he founded eMobile. He gave a great interview late last year to EuroTechnology (Gerhard Fasol).

One of eMobile's many distinguishing features is that it offers subscribers unlimited/uncapped data access. Meaning even if they upload or download enormous amounts of data including Skype and VOIP, or watch or upload movies all-day eMobile does reduce such users' connection speed, nor do they charge extra.

In other countries such plans do not exist, and some operators would even say that it is commercial madness. In fact many operators seek to exclude VOIP or Skype from mobile data subscriptions - and they almost always have a "fair use" policy which can wind you back.

Here are some excepts which stood out to me:

Our "secret" is very simple: 1) high usability of network based on state-of-the-art technology, competitive low cost construction and operations, and 2) operational know-how from fixed broadband market (through eAccess). Incumbent carriers offer flat-rate data service only because competition forced them to. We believe we have great competitive advantages against incumbent carriers.

[One of the key issues for telecom operators is often said to be to "avoid becoming a dumb data pipe"... What is your strategy that your company and your network does not become "a dumb pipe", a commodity?]  Dr. Semmoto: We are confident in providing "a pipe". It is a pipe but a GREAT pipe, mobile broadband service, and it is what customers are willing to use. I believe other Japanese mobile carriers are "too intelligent", too far from real customer needs. High speed, flat-rate mobile broadband data is in itself a differentiated service.

[What do you think is the future of DoCoMo's model of controlling mobile phone specifications? And what is eMobile's handset strategy? Do you want to accept as many handsets as possible on your network, which seems to be SoftBank's strategy?]  Dr. Semmoto: We emphasize standardized technology and open business models. It is not our strategy to control mobile phone specifications too much by committing the purchasing numbers, and by subsidizing developing and manufacturing costs because this would lead us to lose cost competitiveness. We are willing to adopt high-quality, worldwide standard and state-of-the-art handsets.

[What do you think mobile communications markets will look like in 10 years from now? What is your vision for the industry?]  Dr. Semmoto: the mobile market will become more data-focused, furthermore, broadband focused, which we already have experienced in the fixed telecommunication market (from narrowband data/voice to broadband internet). We will see through these mega trends and we will enforce our competitiveness in order to create brand new markets.

| 09.09.20 | Ramblings in social spaces and places

Where I've been this week in the social web's places and spaces:

• For Linkedin members, Social Media Academy Group, the discussion over the question "Building a personal brand - how to achieve a happy medium between being personal and professional ", is an interesting one:

End of 2007 I concluded the PERSONAL | BUSINESS demarcation happens in our BRAIN but not in the eye of the beholder...says Axel Schultze

• Also for Linkedin members a discussion on the approach to have a social media manager across all departments as a coordinating role.
• Recruiting is undergoing a revolution according to Michael Specht - who is organising a conference of the same name for December in Melbourne.
• More ...  How free social media beat the recruitment consultants to death
• I also discovered Twitter Job Search and loved the Job Map.
• The new 6-month schedule of the Leadership Class of the Social Media Academy will allow those business managers doing the course to integrate their learnings with real on-going work projects.
• Social media demographics - I found the most convenient one page source to be Jeremiah Owyang's Collection of Social Network Stats for 2009 and a good recent update from ScoopDog. 
• Gist, I'm trying it - it takes some time to manage the initial analysis.
• Customer Experience with RealNetworks is worth a quick read, on the Right Now blog.
• Ensuring The Future of Food from the Japanese Government is a wake-up call to Japanese citizens and a really strikingly simple but effective video for all of us young and old.
• Noticed that Slideshare had a new sign-up layout at the comments section, the ubiquity of "connect" and especially Facebook Connect is a possible reason Facebook will displace Linkedin:

Managed services are not SaaS - it's about Marketing Martha

Debates rage all over the planet about SaaS and what it is and is not. Some claim, as they do for Cloud, that has been "around forever" and is just marketing making up new jargon.

If you are a Linkedin member you can check this discussion where one of the participants insists that SaaS has been here for 30 years and that it was invented by airline industry who continue to understand it best.

For my part, I disagree that Cloud is not something new (according to my definition) and that SaaS is not something new - again according to my definition. 

In fact I think the reason that many software companies fail to make to transition to SaaS is precisely because they limit their thinking, and their business transition, to the "on demand" mindset, or the "managed service" mindset. That's way I was pleased to read the work of Michael Dunham of Scio who has written two very useful articles - SaaS & XaaS: What Makes Up A "Service?".

I particularly noted this comment: 

ISVs build a lot of expertise in building software and internal operations to fit that model – expertise in managing the development, marketing and sales processes to match the cyclical nature of licensed software sales. Moving to an incremental revenue model is one aspect of SaaS and many ISVs have made the transition – however difficult that might be. But when it came to marketing the product – they are still selling it as a technology – even if they see it as embodying special expertise for their market and not as a service.

That's why we focus on the business modelling and the Go-To-Market transformation for ISV's to SaaS, and why we have explicit frameworks and methodologies to address this issue.

Michael continues: a true SaaS product needs to embody the relationship between the vendor and the end-user community they are serving. But – unfortunately – very few vendors have figured out how to market that service-based relationship successfully. Not just because it is hard for established vendors to do – primarily because it is just not a part of their strategic view of their product. They still see themselves as technology vendors, not as service providers.

And he addresses the business modelling and cash flow issues, which we also focus on: Further, the standard model conveniently supported a split set of payments to the vendor. The vendor set license fees for the product and a separate set of support and maintenance fees to provide ongoing services. In other words, the support services were almost an “optional add-on.” Those same vendors, moving to a “as a Service” model, have to rethink their cash flow and put services in all its various aspects up front while still maintaining enough bandwidth to support ongoing development.

These ARE the big issues, along with business agility, in converting to a SaaS model. It's nice to see others confirming our experience, which we have gathered over hundreds of assignment. Mikael Blaisdell of MBlaisdell & Associates contributed to the discussion, and I often find myself agreeing with him on SaaS business matters.

Execs and social media - 51% unsure, 70% plan to spend more

49%% of executives worry about how their companies and brands are being represented in the social media world (49%) according to the white paper, "Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks," which was conducted by Minneapolis-based Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law in July 2009.

A total of 438 randomly selected management, marketing and human resources executives within companies across the United States completed the online survey.

The Execs surveyed seem to feel that although they were uncomfortable, they couldn't put their head in the sand, and in fact most could see the benefits even if they did not know what to do about it:

• 81% believe social media can enhance relationships with customers/clients;
• 81% agree it can build brand reputation;
• 69% feel such networking can be valuable in recruitment;
• 64% see it as a customer service tool;
• 46% think it can be used to enhance employee morale.

Of those surveyed who were not using social media on a corporate basis 51% said that non-implementation is primarily due to simply not knowing enough about it.

At the same time, 26% of companies use social media to further corporate objectives and 70% said they plan to increase the use of these new opportunities.

30 years Business Planning congealed - Russell Yardley

Russell Yardley, who has been around business planning for more years than he cares to remember, has written a great post which summarises the keys to success.

Based on my own experience I am 110% with what Russell recommends. 

I've done a lot of business planning, and operations etc In fact I've had it said to me about a business plan "if you're so smart then you go and make it happen" which is actually something I always enjoyed. 

I wasn't the guy to run it but I was a good person to start it and demonstrate the business value.

In his post Russell says "In setting out on any journey it is essential to know from where you are starting".

That sounds obvious, even Alice in Wonderland knew it.

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." -King

But, paradoxically, I found that defining the beginning can often be one of the hardest parts of a strategic planning process. 

A good plan must be built on the solid foundation of a realistic view of where the business is today and that is not where you wanted the business to be today; it must be exactly and accurately where the business is today.

Jack Welsh called this authenticity - in strategic planning this step becomes a pressure point where authenticity can often fly out the window. And even more so if the Board and directors are involved.

Getting this done was often bitter, political, filled with lies, and lack of authenticity. Usually things had to cool down for a night after just TRYING to establish a legitimate and credible view of where the business is today. 

That's always amazed me.

By the way if this stage is skipped then the execution risk goes way up.

If you are interested in planning and execution in the context of a start-up failure this is a great post by Scott Rafer Couldery Shouldery - the shutdown of Lookery

What's next? Is it the ONLY question?

The Strategy, Marketing & Innovation Forum at Linkedin recently hosted a News Discussion called What's Next?

The main point made was "It's not just a good question. It's THE question."

Think about the sheer speed of change in the external world. Think about the intensity of global competition. Think about the bargaining power of today's customers etc...

I don't agree that it is the ONLY question, my response:

I've found time and time again that "what's next" is only THE question for people who least strategically know where they are today. There ARE many other important questions that fit into a proper strategic framework - and for sure if you DO NOT HAVE that framework then you will be lost and wondering what's next.

That's my experience, take IT, the companies who have the worst plannning and the least qualified advice are the ones who worry most about what's next - because they have no clear idea where they are today.