Only 20% of Fortune 100 CMOs Are Social:
BusinessNext Social Study Findings
By
Rick Calvert
Last week, NMX BusinessNext Social announced the results of a study showing that only one in five CMOs on the Fortune 100 list are active participants in public social networks. The members of the list—compiled in the BusinessNext Social Top 20 Most Social CMOs in the Fortune 100—have social credentials demonstrating that they understand what it takes to grow and influence their own networks by using new strategies, cutting-edge social media, mobile technologies and compelling content marketing to build highly adaptive, high performance social businesses.
According to Mark Fidelman, Conference Director at BusinessNext Social and lead author of the analysis, the study was inspired by the increasing focus businesses are placing on social, and the leadership role marketing is taking in managing social media activities. A recent study by The CMO Survey predicts that social media spending as a percent of rising marketing budgets is expected to increase from 7.6 to 18.8 percent over the next 5 years; Gartner Research predicts the CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO by 2017.
Remarkably, CMO resistance to becoming more social remains formidable. While the top three have a combined Twitter following of nearly 94,000, an astounding 76% of CMOs have no Twitter following whatsoever. Only 15 executives have at least 100 subscribers on Facebook, and just 12 have Klout scores greater than 30. Compared to a similar 2011 CMO study, social CMOs have extended their social reach, while the majority have remained on the sidelines.
“Ironically, these 100 CMOs are charged with leading social initiatives for the world’s largest enterprises, yet our analysis shows that the majority have relatively little experience building influencer communities,” said Mark. “That is a major stumbling block, according to CMOs and social business experts we have consulted. The consensus among the people who top our list is that CMOs need firsthand experience building online communities to connect with customers and foster loyalty, trust and engagement.”
He believes that for those looking to be successful and relevant in any industry where communications and influence are key factors, nurturing a large network will not only be an advantage, it will soon become an executive requirement.
What do you think? Are CMOs and other C-level executives equipped to drive social inside the organization and out?
Rick Calvert is the CEO and Co-founder of New Media Expo. He has been involved in the trade show industry since 1996 serving as sales manager and director of sales for three of Tradeshow Week’s top 200 events. Follow Rick on Twitter at @blogworld.
