The Situation

Delvinia’s relationship with the Canadian Opera Company (COC) began almost 3 years ago to improve the digital customer experience for opera-goers. Our work has resulted in tangible results migrating more COC customers to transact online. Now the COC struggles with understanding the measurable benefits that social media can better engage their audience. Like many organizations, although they see the potential of social media, they have no way to measure and justify investment.

The Solution

To help the COC, we were able to provide our approach to determine the relative “readiness” of a company to implement, manage and leverage social media. Our approach is designed to:

1. Determine the extent the readiness of the organization is in line with the readiness of its customers
2. Identify the key groups that are most predisposed to embrace social media
3. Understand which aspects are driving or holding back the readiness to embrace social media.
4. Identify the key employees who will be critical in supporting social media initiatives.

At the centre of this approach is our “Social Media Readiness (SMR) Survey”. Our SMR Survey measures organizational readiness, customer readiness and determines relative readiness between the organization and its customers.

Determining Organizational Readiness involves surveying every employee in the organization to come up with a Company Score. Customer Readiness involves surveying a representative sample of customers to come up with a Customer Score. Finally, Relative Readiness is defined as a combination of the Company Score and the Customer Score and indicates where that company’s readiness falls relative to all possible scenarios.

The Relative Readiness score is plotted on our 2×2 matrix falling into one of four quadrants. This analysis provides a clear understanding where the organization stands relative to their customers in terms of Social Media Readiness. Each quadrant has its own unique and strategic implications.

The power of our SMR survey is that it is completed in a weeks, not months. This provides us with the foundation to develop a social media strategy for the organization that is relevant and can be associated with measurable benefits, and meets the pace at which technology is changing our lives.

The Results

By using our SMR Survey, we were able to develop a social media strategy that was based upon data that substantiated our strategy, but fit with the readiness of the organization and their customers. The survey also allowed the COC to identify key individuals who can become an integral part of successfully implementing the social media strategy.

For more information of how your organization can benefit from our Social Media Readiness Survey, contact Randy Matheson, Director, Emerging Platforms at Delvinia.