Are Marketers Ready to Handle Social Media?

A new study reveals that 66 percent of CMOs (chief marketing officers) feel underprepared for the growth of social media, which is evolving at a pace faster than many can cope with.

The study also found that CMOs today are less concerned with both monitoring their brand via social media and trying to monetize social media.

According to a new IBM (NYSE: IBM) study, high-performing CMOs are integrating internal and external data to garner deep insights that, in turn, provide them with a much deeper understanding of their customers.

The study, entitled “Stepping up to the challenge: How CMOs can start to close the aspirational gap,” is based on findings from face-to-face conversations with more than 500 CMOs from 56 countries and 19 industries worldwide.

Conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV), the study reveals that 94 percent of CMOs believe advanced analytics will play a significant role in helping them reach their goals.

However, an increased number of CMOs say their organizations are underprepared to capitalize on the data explosion – 82 percent compared to 71 percent three years before.

The study identifies three types of CMOs: Traditionalists (37 percent), Social Strategists (33 percent) and Digital Pacesetters (30 percent).

Digital Pacesetters are more likely to be financial outperformers and are characterized by their preparedness for the dramatic growth of data, social and mobile channels; integration of physical and digital sales and service channels; and regular use of advanced analytics to extract insights from customer data.

The new study also measured the influence of CMOs within their organization, concluding that their level of strategic involvement is increasing.

According to the study, 63 percent of CEOs involve the CMO in formulating the organization’s overall business strategy, second only to the CFO (72 percent).

The study underscores the need for CMOs to collaborate more closely with the rest of the C-suite in making strategic decisions that are supported by data and analytics.

It also found that when a CMO has a close working relationship with the CIO, the enterprise is more likely to perform better overall.

High-performing CMOs were reported to have a stronger working relationship with CIOs than those identified as financial underperformers.

IBM released the study findings today, March 17.