Social Media Today's Change Agent Survey

Social Change Agents
– a Career Study
August
2014

Study Synopsis
Social Media Today conducted an industry study to identify the career
implications for high profile "Social Change Agents." Whether working
externally as the face and voice for a large corporate brand, or as an
internal catalyst and advocate for enterprise-wide social collaboration,
the study examined how this new, highly visible professional role is
impacting long-term career opportunities.
The study focused on the impact a skill set that includes collaborative
and network technologies, storytelling, crowd-sourcing across
geographies and companies, as well as personal values placed on
transparency and authenticity, is having on individual career
performance and options.
The on-line web survey ran from July 17 to July 28, 2014. In addition,
qualitative interviews were conducted with four key individuals who
self-identify as social change agents.

Key Findings
• The majority of survey respondents are passionate about the values of
Social. It’s not just a job for many. Many survey respondents shared
their personal stories on how they took career risks to stand up for
their convictions.
• By an overwhelming majority, survey respondents see the social
career occupation as positive, leading to greater visibility and
opportunities internally and externally.
• Those who indicated that they saw themselves as Change Agents were
more likely to be the face of their brand, found Social to be a career
boosting asset, and reported they are part of a team dedicated to
social initiatives.

Who responded - #s
• 410 respondents answered the survey
• 63 were disqualified*
• 245 answered every question
• 102 responded partially, but didn’t
finish the survey
* Agency personnel, Vendors, and Industry/Financial analysts were disqualified

Who responded - by Gender
Demographics

Who responded - by Income
Demographics

Who responded - by Income
and Gender
Demographics

Who responded - by Age
Demographics

Who responded - Company Size
Employees Revenue
Demographics

Demographic Insights
• Female: More likely to work for an
agency working in Advertising or
Arts & Entertainment
• Male: More likely to be involved in
Banking, Finance, and Technology
(may account for pay discrepancies)
• Women were twice as likely to have
“Social Media” in their title than their
male counterparts. This could
indicate that women are more likely
to be considered as “social media”
marketers versus marketers in
general. Women were also five times
LESS likely to be considered an
“analyst.”*
Demographics
• Age:
• $100k+ range dominated by 30+
respondents
• 21-29 most likely to have “social
media” in their titles
• 30+ more likely to have
Manager, Director, or C-Level
title
• 65+ More likely to be a
consultant
*Marketing Analyst or Data Analyst, not Industry or
Financial Analyst which were disqualified.

Bryce Williams - Pharma
@TheBrycesWrite
Photo:
Stephen
Brashear
“Timing was everything. I had gotten to a point I was an IT guy
for ten years. I wanted to do something bigger. Had visions I
wanted to help the broader audience across the company.
I wanted to go from being a guy who does it to being a guy
who teaches others how to do it themselves. We had a vision
Jam. One of the themes emerged that people wanted an online
interactive community all the time vs. just that 2-week window.
I wanted to be a key champion to make that real. They created
a role, and I went after it. Even though a lot of people at the
time, my bosses even, said, “You shouldn’t do this. It’s a bad
career move. This is a fad. You’re going to be redeployed into
something you don’t like.” But, I took the risk and went ahead,
and took it against a lot of people’s advice. It felt like stepping
out on a ledge, but it felt right at the same time.
On the positive side, it’s all about the relationship. I talk to so
many people on a daily basis. I walk around the halls here and
I go to lunch, and there may be names I don’t know, but I
recognize faces. I get personal reward every day from things
that I have no involvement in by watching these things go by
online, and that we’re helping facilitate these connections and
people getting answers. The positive is definitely being able to
see the return and feeling it in terms of the networks I’ve built
and the people I know.”
Work Experience

Years Experience
Majority (75%) of
respondents have been
working in a social
occupation for more than
two years. And nearly a
third (27%) have been
working in social for
over five years.
Work Experience

Brand Identity
Nearly half (47%) of the
respondents function as
the public face of the
brand they represent.
Work Experience
Do you function as the public face of your brand?

Personal Identity
Are you known personally as the voice of your brand? (e.g., Scott Monty for Ford)
Larger percentage than
we predicted (16%) have
melded their personal
brand identity with their
corporate brand identity.
Work Experience

Inspiration
Contrary to popular opinion,
most respondents got into the
role because of its
attractiveness as a new field,
as well as the opportunity to
align personal values and
make a difference. NOT to
become “web celebs.”
Work Experience
What drew you originally to a social occupation?
Key:

Richard Binhammer - Tech
@RBinhammer
Photo:
Adelina
Wong
“I was an old time PR and Public affairs guy. I media
trained executives and ran Michael Dell events. When I got
this assignment, I had to look up in Wikipedia what a blog
was. It was baptism by fire with the whole Dell Hell thing.
Dell was symbolic of every corporation who was a bad boy
on the web. Dell was the cause celeb for any F500
company.
Communications teams are one of the last bastions of the
old command and control systems. Comms teams think
they’re social because they put a YouTube video up and
tweet the latest news release. My view is Social upends the
communications process. You can actually start with what
people are saying about you on the web, and instead of
deciding what our messages are based on what the CEO
and Marketing want, you can actually listen to what people
on the web are saying, learn what people are talking about
and what resonates with them. Second, you can learn who
those people are.
As far as taking a career risk… I’m surprised I lasted as
long as I did.”
Values

Social Values - Peers
Have you ever had to defend the values of social with a peer colleague?
Overwhelming majority
(71%) of respondents
reported they definitely had
been in a situation or
situations where they had to
defend the values of social
with colleagues.
Values

Social Values - Superiors
Similarly, a large percentage
(62%) reported they had to
defend the values of social to
a superior.
The verbatims where
respondents described the
incidents are classic.
Values
Have you ever had to defend the values of social with someone in the
organization at a higher rank than you?

Social Values - Conviction
Has there ever been a time that you felt you’d be willing to lose your job
rather than compromise your convictions about social?
The respondents who said
“Yes” surprised us – 20%!
Again, look at the verbatims to
better understand these
responses.
Values

John Stepper – Banking
@johnstepper
PhPohtoot:o
A:
Sdteelipnhae
Wn
Bonrags
hear
“There is no natural home for what we do. Everyone’s case is
kind of different. For me, I was either going to do something
else at the company or I was going to work somewhere else.
That’s what led me to pitch a bigger idea, a more ambitious plan
to introduce the social network, and go all in for that. And if it
didn’t work, they’d get rid of me. That’s meant a tenuous couple
of years. I’d ask myself, “Will they get rid of me this year?”
What we’ve managed to do, is take gradual steps that would
have blown our minds years ago. But, step by step… we have
more and more interesting use cases. With organic growth, next
thing you know, there are 50K people in the community. What it
opens up internally is a set of jobs that don’t exist yet.
Because you are so visible, you rally a bunch of people. And
there is a strength in that. It’s still a big machine, but it gives the
company pause. It would be tough to get rid of this guy and this
“thing,” because there would be this big tribe of people who
would be pissed off. And, it didn’t give me immunity, but the
more I was wasn’t righteous, but helpful and positive, and always
good for the brand, and not an irritant – boy, was that a strategy
that worked out really well. Creating that positive, constructive
culture allowed me to stay as long as I have.”
Visibility

Visibility - Internally
How has your position as a social champion impacted your general visibility
in your organization?
Interesting, although many
respondents reported they
were not drawn to social for
personal visibility, most
(71%) reported increased
visibility as a byproduct of
the job.
Visibility
Key:

Visibility - Externally
How has your position as a social champion impacted your public visibility?
Regardless of where the
individual fit in the
organizational hierarchy, the
majority (65%) of respondents
reported being a social
champion had a positive impact
on their career visibility.
Visibility
Key:

Visibility - Communications
Has your position afforded you the opportunity to do any of the following?
As a primary channel for
communications, social opens up
several opportunities to
“boundary span.” This is true
especially within the
organization where a majority
(76%) reported their position
gave access to new areas within
the company.
Visibility
Key:

Jeremiah Owyang - Tech
“There was a lot of rhetoric and discussion about how this
would disrupt PR and customer care. At the time I was a
full-time employee at Hitachi Data Systems, a hundred-year-
old company with over 300K employees, a massive
conglomerate. I helped to craft a business case, I brought
in speakers like Shel Israel, I bought books… I even
remember printing out the thesis from the Cluetrain
Manifesto and dropping it on the marketing manager’s
desk [anonymously]. I helped to educate executives, and
was fortunate to get executive support to bless it.
Many colleagues thought it was a fad, it wasn’t real or didn’t
matter. They were so focused on analyst relations, press/
media relations, advertising, white papers, email
marketing, but I said, “This is two-way; it’s gonna come!” So
I had to do an incredible amount of evangelism, and I did
receive some pushback. Corp. Comms was uncomfortable
giving up control in a classic sense, but in the end they
came around and took part in it. But it was certainly
change agency. They could see and feel control shifting
and comments opened up and actual customers could talk
back to executives.”
Photo:
Brian
Solis
2006, STIRR tech mixer
@jowyang
Career

Career Impact - Future
Does having a profile as a social thought leader make you feel more or less
secure about your career prospects?
Overwhelming majority report
either they feel social has
increased their job security, or
their role in social has set them
up well for future work inside
and outside the company.
Career
Key:

Career Impact - Internally
How do you feel making the choice to focus on Social has impacted your
career trajectory at your company?
Understandably, most report a
positive impact. Those few who
reported a negative impact
point to the newness of the
position impacting predictable
career paths.
Career
Key:

Career Impact - Access
Career
How often do you interface with executive
management in your company?
Do you feel your position in Social has
provided you with greater access to senior
leadership?
Across the board, most respondents report easy and regular access to Sr. Mgmt.

Career Impact - Mobility
How do you feel the skills you’ve learned as a social professional have
impacted your career mobility?
Overwhelming majority (74%)
believe social has increased
their personal career mobility.
Most who responded, “Can’t
say…” either it was their first
job (ever) or their first position
in social and career mobility
was yet to be determined.
Career
Key:

Career Impact - Commitment
The values of social are
important to social
professionals in a deeply
personal way. Over half (57%)
of respondents self-identify as
Social Change Agents.
Career
Please select which of these sentences describes you best.
Key:

Appendix
• Additional data included for large
companies over $100M in revenue
• Select verbatims

Large Company Insights
>$100M
• 6.6% of Respondents stated that working in Social has limited their career
trajectory/mobility because there is not a career path at their company in social.
• 39.3% stated it made a neutral impact.
• 59% stated it had a positive impact.
• 19.7% stated that social has NOT given them greater access to higher ups
(these individuals were more likely to state that there was no real career path in
social at their company and/or that social isn’t valued).
• 21.3% can’t say whether they have more access to upper management
(more likely to state that social was now a necessary component of the job, and
that as “social becomes more important” they believe they will be valued more).
• 63.9% stated that they DO have greater access because of social
(more likely to state that learning new skills invigorates them, that learning new
skills always increases your value, and that opportunities outside of their
company are good, too).

Large Company Insights
>$100M
Salary distribution by gender

Verbatims
“Several
partners
in
the
organisa<on
have
refused
to
accept
that
social
technologies
are
not
a
fad,
rather
that
it
is
important
that
both
organisa<ons
and
individuals
need
to
learn
about
them,
to
learn
about
the
social
landscape
and
opportuni<es
which
are
presented
to
all.
It
took
two
years
of
solidly
having
one
on
one
conversa<ons
with
each
to
get
to
a
point
where
they
acknowledged
they
were
ready
to
consider
the
viability
of
u<lising
social
technologies
both
within
the
business
and
external
to
the
business.
My
adop<on
of
social
technologies
for
use
within
the
business
has
been
done
by
stealth
and
informally.
In
2013
we
reached
a
point
where
it
was
agreed
that
the
senior
partners
would
par<cipate
in
educa<onal
programmes
to
learn
more
about
the
opportuni<es
and
risks
of
not
engaging
with
social.
Hence
a
formal
programme
has
begun
and
trac<on
among
a
small
percentage
has
been
obtained,
the
others
are
coming
along
slowly.
We're
currently
prevailing.”
“I
con<nually
have
to
inform
members
of
my
organiza<on,
peer
agencies,
and
business
leaders
I
meet
of
the
value
and
credibility
of
Social
Media
in
both
business
and
public
health.
My
track
record
for
success
is
roughly
50/50.
I
have
given
presenta<ons
to
local
business
leaders
on
how
SM
can
impact
their
boPom
line
($),
and
that
seems
to
generate
most
interest.
However,
convincing
others
in
my
own
agency,
even
our
PIO,
of
the
importance
of
crea<ng
a
community
of
like-‐
minded
individuals
through
this
medium
took
facts,
figures,
a
power
point
and
impassioned
ar<cula<on.
She's
now
on
board,
as
is
our
Director.
However,
I
con<nue
to
aPempt
to
pursued
peers
within
the
agency
to
join,
follow,
tweet,
and
like.
It
is
daun<ng.”

Verbatims
“Yes.
While
working
for
a
consul<ng
firm,
the
client
asked
for
help
with
a
"social
media
problem"
that
was
plaguing
them.
We
had
to
convince
the
consultant
AND
the
brand
that
the
problem
was
actually
a
PRODUCT
problem
(carcinogenic
substance
in
a
product;
consumers
were
not
happy),
and
that
once
they
fixed
the
PRODUCT
problem,
then
we
could
fix
the
social
media
problem
(and
PR/media/investor
problem).”
“Senior
staff
thought
it
was
a
waste
of
<me,
but
with
the
right
objec<ves
and
strategies
in
place
I
proved
them
wrong.
I
had
to
educate
them
about
social
and
explained
the
full
benefits
through
real
campaigns.”
“The
CEO
of
a
company
I
worked
for
wanted
me
to
post
under
the
guise
of
a
consumer
in
order
to
help
promote
a
product
and
provide
posi<ve
reviews.
I
informed
the
CEO
of
the
fact
that
I
cannot
do
that,
and
we
argued
for
a
bit
un<l
I
basically
put
my
foot
down
and
said
that
I
refuse
to
post
that
way
and
if
he/she
wanted
to
proceed,
he/she
does
so
only
with
a
no<ce
by
me
that
the
prac<ce
is
not
allowed.
-‐-‐-‐
Luckily,
he/she
ended
up
backing
down
and
did
not
proceed.”
“Many
do
not
feel
the
need
for
social
since
it
is
difficult
to
determine
ROI
and
doesn't
always
bring
in
direct
sales.
Many
<mes,
social
has
been
reduced,
or
in
one
case,
even
cut
completely.
I
fought
back
with
sta<s<cs,
studies,
and
our
own
metrics
to
show
the
value
of
social.
I
did
prevail.”
“Also
have
had
to
defend
social,
especially
to
tradi<onal/legacy
brands
that
s<ll
think
of
the
Internet
as
a
place
where
a
bunch
of
people
with
too
much
<me
on
their
hands
hang
out
to
bitch/gripe.
Had
to
explain,
through
examples,
that
these
online
consumers
are
influencers,
reputa<on
makers,
etc.,
and
poten<ally
valuable
ambassadors
who
should
be
treated
as
any
other
consumer,
regardless
of
the
channel
they
use
to
communicate
with
a
firm/company/brand.”

Verbatims
“We
are
moving
form
a
"modern
toy"
point
of
view
to
"communica<on
channel"
aftude.
It
really
maPers
-‐
the
more
people
know
about
value
I
bring
to
my
company,
my
impact...
the
higher
they
es<mate
my
efforts.
I
show
them
new
ways
to
highlight
our
messages,
new
formats.
I
experiment
and
work
hard
on
building
trust
with
key
audiences
(correct
and
up
to
date
info,
quick
response
to
their
requests
and
so
-‐
followers
can
see
that
we
are
open
to
them...
and
they
react
posi<vely,
sharing
their
feedback
with
my
colleagues,
who
work
with
them
(IR,
HR
and
so
on).
So
my
colleagues
can
feel
that
I
support
them
in
their
efforts
-‐
and
get
ready
to
share
their
ini<a<ve
for
mutual
promo<on
(e.g.,
simultaneously
via
IR
and
social
media
tools).”
“There
is
a
skill
to
social
and
an
ability
to
understand
its
constant
ebb
and
flow
that
not
all
have.
Senior
leaders
who
understand
this
value
what
social
professionals
bring
to
the
table.
It's
ohen
lacking
in
organiza<ons
who
have
yet
to
make
a
substan<al
investment
in
their
social
presence,
making
an
ac<ve
social
professional
more
desirable
and
knowledgeable.”
“Social
skills
and
knowledge
have
elevated
my
exis<ng
skills
and
exper<se
in
my
profession
as
a
change
agent
and
an
L&D
professional.
By
being
an
early
adopter,
I
have
been
able
to
set
myself
apart
to
a
certain
extent
within
my
organisa<on
and
can
take
a
leadership
role
in
something
that
is
s<ll
considered
to
be
rela<vely
new
for
the
business
and
by
combining
these
new
skills
with
my
exis<ng
skills
and
experience
I
can
support
and
guide
in
a
much
more
effec<ve
way
than
could
an
external
consultant.”
“For
the
last
11
years
that
I
was
working
at
a
major
corpora<on
all
along
all
of
the
different
projects
in
mul<ple
divisions,
business
units
and
organisa<ons,
all
of
them
came
through
social
technologies
whether
my
corporate
blog,
my
social
interac<ons
or
the
work
I
have
done
over
the
course
of
<me
around
adop<on
and
enablement
of
Social
Networking
/
Business
principles.
Without
social
technologies
I
wouldn't
have
been
even
capable
of
living
where
I
have
been
living
last
10
years,
i.e.
remote,
about
6.000
km
away
from
my
first
line
manager.
In
fact,
for
a
good
number
of
years
I
have
been
having
my
HR
manager
in
Europe,
my
project
manager
in
the
US
and
myself
being
located
in
Africa.
Social
made
that
possible.
Every
<me..”

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