{"id":4301,"date":"2012-08-24T14:20:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T14:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=4301"},"modified":"2014-12-20T19:19:57","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T19:19:57","slug":"three-of-four-cmos-say-social-media-impacts-sales-read-more-httpwww-business2community-comsocial-mediathree-of-four-cmos-say-social-media-impacts-sales-0260992ixzz24toi2eft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/three-of-four-cmos-say-social-media-impacts-sales-read-more-httpwww-business2community-comsocial-mediathree-of-four-cmos-say-social-media-impacts-sales-0260992ixzz24toi2eft\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Of Four CMOs Say Social Media Impacts Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Not long ago I wrote an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/ceos-on-social-media-do-as-i-say-not-as-i-do\/\" target=\"_blank\">article on the use of social media among CEOs<\/a>\u00a0and how many often talk the social media talk on behalf of their brands\/companies but very few actually walk the social media walk for their own personal use.<\/p>\n<p>Today comes results of a survey conducted by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bazaarvoice.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bazaarvoice\u00a0<\/a>of 100 members of\u00a0<a title=\"The CMO Club\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecmoclub.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The CMO Club<\/a>. Now while I realize the sample size is small (100) it is worth nothing that\u00a056.1% of the brands represented have more than $1 billion in annual\u00a0revenue while another 36% have $100-999 million in annual revenue, and just 7.9% have annual revenue of $0-100 million.<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/company\/bazaarvoice\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn2.business2community.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/27021v1-max-450x45021.png?maxX=253&amp;maxY=55\" alt=\"Image representing Bazaarvoice as depicted in ...\" width=\"253\" height=\"55\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>Entitled \u201c<em>Chief customer\u00a0advocate: How social\u00a0data elevates CMOs<\/em>\u201d the survey and subsequent white paper\u00a0\u201dreveals the results of an\u00a0online survey\u00a0of 100 members of The CMO Club, which includes CMOs\u00a0of business-to-consumer and business-to-business organizations.\u201dKey findings include:<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Social (media) data impacts decisions for nearly all CMOs. Almost half of CMOs have used social data to make predictions or\u00a0forecasts, and nearly nine in 10 say this data has influenced their decisions.<\/li>\n<li>CMOs use data to drive smarter decisions beyond\u00a0marketing. While marketing teams and agencies most\u00a0often uncover the data itself, insights are used in product\u00a0development, customer experience, sales, and C-level\u00a0discussions.<\/li>\n<li>CMOs believe social reveals\u00a0consumer sentiment and\u00a0improves\u00a0brand awareness. CMOs are most confident in\u00a0social\u00a0data analysis\u00a0of product\/service sentiment, and in its\u00a0impact on overall\u00a0brand loyalty\u00a0and awareness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As for the impact CMOs believe social media has on sales:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cdn2.business2community.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Screen-Shot-2012-08-21-at-10.15.47-AM1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn2.business2community.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Screen-Shot-2012-08-21-at-10.15.47-AM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"432\" height=\"321\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While I\u2019m not sure why the folks behind this survey\/white paper decided to \u201cwater down\u201d the confidence quotient, if you will, by inserting the word \u201csomewhat\u201d in the subhead in the chart above, especially when they did not use the word in the headline \u2013 but regardless the fact that so many of the CMOs surveyed identified social media as having such a profound impact on sales, as well as brand \u00a0awareness and loyalty speaks volumes.<\/p>\n<p>It speaks volumes in that CMOs, perhaps unlike their fellow C-suite residents (CEOs), realize that social media is here to stay \u2013 yes there are those still on \u201cit\u2019s a fad\u201d bandwagon, and that it can have a significant impact the things that matter most, AKA the bottom line and brand loyalty.<\/p>\n<p>It would also appear that CMOs realize that social media is a direct reflection on the world around them \u2013 the world where consumers live, work and play. While not crazy about the use of the word \u201csomewhat\u201d again, the graph below shows that a large number of CMOs surveyed believe that social media is effective for identifying discernible trends among consumers with the word \u201cdiscernible\u201d being the operative word for sure.<\/p>\n<p>The graph also reveals how CMOs believe that social media does a great job at reflecting consumer sentiment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cdn2.business2community.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Screen-Shot-2012-08-21-at-10.34.28-AM1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn2.business2community.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Screen-Shot-2012-08-21-at-10.34.28-AM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"432\" height=\"322\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>CMOs Are \u201cCustomer Champions\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Erin Mulligan Nelson, CMO, Bazaarvoice used that term in discussing the findings of the survey, saying \u201cIn a consumer-obsessed C-suite, the CMOs are the chief customer advocates and social (media) data is their ultimate weapon. Social data lets CMOs truly know their customers and predict consumers\u2019 future needs before they even have them. Nearly all CMOs now use this data to drive decisions. As the business world re-centers around serving and delighting consumers, social data is turning CMOs into customer champions \u2014 and heroes within the C-suite. And as an industry, we have just started to tap into the potential of social data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She is dead on when she says that we have just started to tap into the potential of all the social media data of course as we are just now beginning to realize the sheer magnitude and power and scope of the mounds of data.\u00a0Given the fact that we as consumers\u00a0now create as much information every two days as we did from the dawn of civilization to 2003, I would say Acxiom CMO\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/timsuther\" target=\"_blank\">Tim Suther<\/a>was correct when he referred to it as a\u00a0\u201dtsunami of data\u201d in an article I wrote back in February entitled\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmo.com\/planning\/how-rein-riches-big-data\" target=\"_blank\">How To Rein In The Riches Of Big Data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The aforementioned article also speaks to the inherent dangers brands and businesses face when deciding what to do with all this new found data and the possible legal ramifications therein.<\/p>\n<p>Sources:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">CMO.com<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bazaarvoice.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bazaarvoice<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"The CMO Club\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecmoclub.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The CMO Club<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Named one of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.socialtechnologyreview.com\/articles\/top-100-influencers-social-media\" target=\"_blank\">Top 100 Influencers In Social Media<\/a>\u00a0(#41) by Social Technology Review and a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/topsmbloggers.kred.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Top 50 Social Media Blogger<\/a>\u00a0by Kred,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thesteveozone.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Olenski<\/a>\u00a0is a freelance copywriter\/blogger looking for full-time work. He has worked on some of the biggest brands in the world and has more than 20 years experience in advertising and marketing. He lives in Philly and can be reached via\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:steveolenski@yahoo.com\">email<\/a>,<a title=\"steve olenski\" href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/steveolenski\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"steve olenski\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steveolenski\" target=\"_blank\">LinkedIn<\/a>, or his\u00a0<a title=\"steve olenski\" href=\"http:\/\/steveolenski.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not long ago I wrote an\u00a0article on the use of social media among CEOs\u00a0and how many often talk the social media talk on behalf of their brands\/companies but very few actually walk the social media walk for their own personal use. Today comes results of a survey conducted by\u00a0Bazaarvoice\u00a0of 100 members of\u00a0The CMO Club. Now &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/three-of-four-cmos-say-social-media-impacts-sales-read-more-httpwww-business2community-comsocial-mediathree-of-four-cmos-say-social-media-impacts-sales-0260992ixzz24toi2eft\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,1383],"tags":[1710,1667,1234,1708,1434,1652,1029,1653,1709],"class_list":["post-4301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-steveolenski","tag-acxiom","tag-big-data","tag-chief-marketing-officer","tag-cmo-club","tag-cmos","tag-social-media-marketers","tag-social-media-marketing","tag-steve-olenski","tag-tim-suther"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4301"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5740,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions\/5740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}