Social media continues to grow up and mature but we’ve got a long way to go. I’ve been talking to several clients and prospective clients and I’m seeing some very encouraging signs. One way to gauge the sophistication of your social media efforts is to use the Capability Maturity Model.
Most companies somewhere between a level 1 and a level 3. Very few companies are at a 4 and I don’t know anyone that can truly say they’re at a 5 (although I know several companies that are aggressively working towards it).
Where do you think your company fits in? (Be honest.)
Capability Maturity Model: You can see the Wikipedia entry for more context.
Level 1: Initial - (chaotic, ad hoc, individual heroics) - the starting point for use of a new process. The typical behavior you see in an organization is heroics, where you have a great idea and a group of passionate supporters do everything. Everyone jumps on board every time there’s a problem.
Level 2: Managed - A functional manager decides the heroics are not effective to build a business and puts together some processes. The team may use them but they are not adopted consistently throughout the company.
Level 3: Defined - The organization realizes that things aren’t working, balls are getting dropped, employees are tired, additional headcount may or may not help there is a desire to fix the problem across the company. The process is defined/confirmed as a standard business process shared across the company.
Level 4: Quantitatively Managed - A business process is in place and there is data over a period of time to establish metrics. The functional area has metrics and the metrics roll up to support the business goals and objectives.
Level 5: Optimizing - Complaints, efficiencies are managed in a closed loop corrective action plan. Where these requests are tracked, business systems are changed to meet the needs of the business. Decisions are based on efficiency, creativity and voice of customer.
In future posts I’ll walk through how to move from one level to the next.
Photo credit by Gobble Monster
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