DreamGrow Social Media

Study: Tribalization of Business 2009

Organizations are not yet tapping social media’s full potential. Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications practice has released the results of the 2009 Tribalization of Business Study. The study evaluates the perceived potential of online communities and identifies how enterprises believe they may better leverage them. The second edition of the Tribalization of Business Study measures the responses of more than 400 companies including Fortune 100 organizations which have created and maintain online communities today.

The study shows that companies are aware of the social tools. Companies are trying to see more than just the active users and look for ways to capture data about non-active users or „lurkers“.

• 32 percent of respondents are capturing data on how lurkers derive value from the community
• 20 percent of respondents have set up formal “ambassador” programs, which give outsiders preferential treatment in return for being more active in the community
• 39 percent of the respondents indicated that more full-time people are being deployed to manage the communities

The biggest obstacles in building communities are getting people to:

• Join (24 percent)
• Stay engaged (30 percent)
• Keep returning (21 percent)

There are solutions to overcome these obstacles but companies are not very active in taking the necessary steps.

The main business objectives of online communities are to increase:

• word-of-mouth (38 percent)
• customer loyalty (34 percent)
• brand awareness (30 percent)
• idea generation (29 percent)
• quality of customer support (23 percent)

In addition to the obvious need to be customer-centric the next steps recommended by Deloitte are:

• Think tribe, not market segment
• Think network, not channel

What are the biggest obstacles in social media adoption for your company?