Well, well, well… finally some real evidence that smart, Best-in-Class companies are way ahead of the Laggards when it comes to understanding, using, liking and gaining benefit from social media. It comes out of an Aberdeen research survey featured in this CNNMoney.com posting. Take a look at this astonishing statistic:

…Best-in-Class organizations are over 680% more likely than Laggards to improve their ability to predict customer behavior through the use of social media monitoring and analysis tools.

and…

…Best-in-Class companies are 5 times more likely than Laggards to be "extremely satisfied" with the number of actionable insights derived from social media monitoring and analysis.

What's the root of their interest and satisfaction? The report makes that pretty clear, too:

Companies leveraging social media monitoring and analysis tools believe that a clearer view of customers' wants and needs will ultimately allow organizations to positively affect customer satisfaction levels and improve return on marketing investment (ROMI). Best-in-Class companies are nurturing technology implementation with key organizational processes and capabilities, such as a formalized process for monitoring consumer-generated content (65%), dedicated personnel devoted to social media monitoring (52%), and an "early warning system" for detecting potential threats to the brand (42%).

It's 1:20pm Tuesday afternoon, February 5, 2008. Do you know where your brand is, who is talking about it, or what they're saying?

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Here's a very interesting item that attempts to itemize the components that drive customer loyalty. Entitled, "The Loyalty Riddle," it is written by Marshall Lager and it appears in desinationCRM.com. In case you're short of time and can't view the link directly, the six factors they talk about are Competency, Integrity, Recognition, Proactivity, Savvy, Chemistry. These factors are well-explained in the article.

Of greater interest perhaps is what's said by various experts about how corporate entities have to behave, and what actions they should take, to maximize these factors in today's online, social-media-driven world. It isn't easy and it doesn't come naturally. But it is possible. Especially if you're able to step out of the way and let consumers participate in creating the customer experience they want most.

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More and more new media advocates of late have been saying that establishment corporate types, the over 40 crowd let's say, and traditional PR firms and practitioners, are responsible for the lag in social media adoption among businesses. Earlier this week, for example, Hollis Thomases, the President and Founder of Web Ad.vantage, Inc. sent me this item. By Mike Grehan, it is about his astonishment upon learning, after checking around, that a lot of traditional PR firms aren't up to speed with social media. Responding to a reader comment to an earlier column he wrote, Mr. Grehan says:

What struck me particularly was her comment: "I think traditional PR firms may be on their way out as well."

How many traditional PR firms are embracing new style strategies such as the ones Mettler describes? I started looking at how many PR firms are up to speed… I was stunned at how few I came across that actually had search and social media in the mix.

Then just yesterday I came across this piece. By Janet Driscoll Miller, and entitled, "Can We Close the Marketing Generational Gap," I found it a rather astute assessment of why reluctance to social media still runs high in established corporations principally run by establishment, older middle and upper management types. I hasten to add there are exceptions. We have clients who are exceptions, in fact. Age isn'talways the defining factor, of course. But speaking generally…

Ms. Miller writes: I’m 36, and I can tell you that with a few noted exceptions, most of the marketers I know over the age of 40 don’t really seem to understand the cutting edge of online marketing, much less the basics.

You'll really want to read both of these posts.

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