Where the shoe pinches: Realizing dominant problems as an organizational social media business profile evolves

Abstract

When managed properly, social media has been shown to provide clear benefits to organizations. However, social media mismanagement can lead to undesirable situations. This study aims to identify and examine problems associated with social media as its use by an organization evolves. We identify such problems by surveying Canadian organizations. Survey participants were asked to rate the severity of the problems faced by their organization as their social media business profile (SMBP) evolves. Our findings reveal two waves of problems occurring where severity levels increase through the evolution of the SMBP. The most prominent problems are failure to develop metrics for measuring returns on investment and failure to translate data into actionable insights, both of which are related to analytics. We also show that larger organizations tend to experience more strategic problems, while organizations of the service sector experience more severe problems. In identifying the types of problems that emerge and when to expect them during SMBP evolution, this study enables practitioners to anticipate and develop plans that mitigate such problems and to harness the full potential of social media.