InSites: The Current State of Social Business Integration in Enterprises

Integrating social media into the business process is a challenge for many companies. The marketing department is usually the first to use social media and must have worked with other teams or senior executives to integrate social media into the company.

InSites Consulting surveyed senior marketing executives in the United States and the United Kingdom and found that only 14% of respondents said they have fully integrated social media into their business processes. 23% are on the road to integration, 24% are still testing the waters of social marketing, 26% are just getting started, and 12% are on the sidelines of social marketing.

Marketers pointed out the main obstacles to integrating social media: 48% said their company does not believe in business effectiveness; 42% believe their products and services are not suitable for social media; 39% said they lack support from senior management.

When it comes to integrating social media into business processes, companies must evolve and change their structures, cultures and employees to achieve breakthroughs. By investigating these changes within companies, 69% of US companies said they believe that individuals and employees are open to new technologies and social media. Culturally, 57% of US marketers said their companies do not have a social media policy, but use some codes of conduct.

Structurally, 69% of U.S. respondents said their companies are working to integrate social media with existing marketing plans, and 64% said their companies have a dedicated person or team responsible for social media projects.

As businesses and marketers continue to adjust to changes at the structural, cultural and individual levels, social media will become a more critical part of the organization and become more integrated with other company processes.