A survey by enterprise content management (ECM) specialist Vignette has found that companies recognise social media is important but don’t know how to slot the technology in with their long-term plans, nor how to measure how effective it is

The Vignette survey results were drawn from around 200 responses from large US companies, with 50 per cent of the respondents employed at companies with 1,000-plus staff. In addition, 62 per cent came from B2B organisations.

Fifty-five percent of those surveyed rated Web 2.0 (social media) priorities as either more important than or as important as traditional priorities, according to the survey. However, only 14 per cent have two or more years of experience with using social media and 40 percent don’t have a strategy for how to use it, the survey found.

This is despite companies pumping money into the area – 71 percent of respondents said they planned to increase social media investments in 2009, with the average increase being around the 40 per cent mark. However, only 12 percent of those polled rated their Web 2.0 initiatives as effective.

Marketing departments are the leading users of social media, at 69 per cent; with IT at 12 per cent and human resources and public relations both at 11 per cent.

“Social media today is like the web was in the ’90s – everyone knows they need to use it, but they aren’t sure how,” says Gerardo Dada, senior director of product marketing for Vignette.

“As a result, very few companies have a strategy in place, including guidelines, processes and metrics, to succeed long term. The interest and resources are there, but on a tactical level only.”

He puts the interest in social media down to companies’ understanding that this is an important new way of connecting with customers and that it can both increase revenue and save money, and so have a real impact on the bottom line.

“The days of one-way communications are gone. Social media is changing the way companies and people interact,” says Dada.

Open text buys Vignette
The Vignette survey has a back story, the company was bought last month by Canadian software giant Open Text, for US$310 million.

The buy raised some eyebrows as the eight-year-old Vignette had been faltering. However, the buy gives Open Text access to large Vignette customers such as Cathay Pacific and Banco de Espana.

It also gets access to a Java-based portal. One of the big advantages of the popular Sun open-source software is its portability, which led to its being taken up by the major web browsers.

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