As President of Sprout Social, I’m fortunate to have conversations with C-suite executives and marketing leaders across brands and industries everyday. I hear their timely perspectives, challenges and sentiments around social media, and how it fits into their macro business strategy.

Their anecdotes tell me a lot about the current and future state of marketing. I talk to brands at every stage. Some are just getting started managing social from native platforms, while others have dabbled in social media management software, but face roadblocks that keep them from maximizing social. Others consider social to be the tip of the spear that drives success across all channels, and rely on social intelligence to inform their entire business strategy.

Here are some of the most important things I’ve learned about the state of social from all of these senior leaders—including lessons from C-suite execs who fully harness social, and from those who wish their brand could do more. Let’s dive in.

Some C-suites undervalue the benefits and overstate the risks of social

The most common apprehensions I hear from execs about social are: 1) that a brand crisis will go viral and spiral out of control and 2) that they won’t be able to pinpoint the data and insights they need. These fears prevent brands from resourcing teams appropriately and fully developing an online presence—leading to team burnout, lackluster results and unsatisfied customers.

There are countless examples of brands who value customer-centricity in their stores or call centers, but they leave mentions and DMs unresponded to for the world to see. Abandoning customers on social—their customer care channel of choice—leaves room for the competition to swoop in and sends a concerning message to current and future customers. According to The Sprout Social Index™, 76% of consumers value how quickly brands respond to their needs on social, while another 70% expect personalized responses.

Data visualization from The Sprout Social Index™ illustrating how quickly consumers expect a response from brands on social in 2022 and 2023. In 2023, nearly 70% expect a response within 24 hours or less. In 2022, 77% of consumers expected a response within 24 hours or less.

And ironically, investing in social actually makes it easier to prevent crises from escalating. Social can do what traditional surveys can’t: Collect real-time data. For example, when a CEO of a large publicly-traded company recently made a comment about “efficiency” in an earnings call, some employees misconstrued that to mean imminent layoffs. By using Sprout, the company was able to identify the source of the spike in social chatter, gauge sentiment and quickly stop misinformation from spreading inside their organization.

User interface of Sprout Social's Listening Sentiment Analysis solution. In the image, you can see sentiment trends over time, overall sentiment score and relevant social media posts pulled in the query.

Social data isn’t just valuable in a crisis. Performance data from social can show you what’s working with your audience, what proportion of trending conversations you own and what your return on investment is from your social efforts (including revenue impacts). Many leaders who are afraid to fully dive into social don’t realize just how many unfiltered insights it offers.

Future-thinking leaders want their entire companies to tap into social data

Some leaders do have a clear vision of social media’s role in their company’s success. When I met with the CEO of a power tools company recently, their most pressing concern about using our platform was whether their entire company could glean value. The CEO said, “We believe Sprout has the data and technology we need, but what’s most important isn’t just making our marketers better. It’s arming the rest of our organization.”

This leader wanted to make sure product managers could use social listening to uncover what people love about their products, and how they want them to improve. They wanted their sales team to be equipped with competitor intel so they could refine their pitches and ultimately win more shelf space over their competition by emphasizing the right differentiators.

User interface of Sprout Social's Competitive Analysis Report, which compares three competitors' share of voice, impressions, engagements, sentiment and volume.

This illustrates a mindset shift I’m seeing among today’s most successful leaders. They are creating social-first cultures and leading with social insights. According to The 2023 State of Social Media Report, 95% of business leaders agree companies must rely more heavily on social media data and insights to inform business decisions outside marketing, but 69% report social data is underutilized.

A chart from the State of Social Media Report that calls-out 69% of business leaders believe social data is underutilized at their orgs, while 95% agree companies must rely on social data more in the future.

Having a culture with social at the forefront is the most important factor in determining whether a company will use social to its full potential, regardless of industry. Of our 30,000+ customers, even leaders in transportation, government, higher education, and healthcare find success when adopting a companywide approach to social. Many of them do this by adopting social media center of excellence models to ensure social has a seat at the table when it comes to developing—not just executing—strategy.

AI is top of mind in the boardroom

In today’s economic climate, executives are prioritizing new tools that don’t simply offer time savings—the benefits need to be even more tangible. When a leading media company’s call center executive was told by their C-suite that they needed to cut costs by 40%, they were eager to find AI solutions that could streamline costly manual tasks to deliver more value without the need for more resources.

They aren’t alone. Many social teams strapped for budget or headcount report being inundated by manual tasks. The Social Media Productivity Report found that 63% of social media marketers agree manual tasks prevent them from doing high impact work. The right social media management tools give marketers valuable time back. The same report found that those with dedicated social media management tools are almost twice as likely to report they often have enough time to get their work done compared to those without a dedicated tool.

Most leaders I speak with don’t have a clear vision of what they need AI for. They just know they need to save money and time. They’re looking for ways AI can be embedded into their current workflows, without costly retooling and retraining. They’re looking for a partner with a clear point of view on what the future of AI holds.

User interface of Sprout Social's automated message prioritization solution

When in doubt, go where your customers are

Across the board, I see a critical divide among C-suite execs when it comes to social media. Some are hesitant, fearing crises and data challenges, while others embrace social as a pivotal tool for growth and insights across their organization.

Those who prioritize a social-first approach not only mitigate risks effectively but also empower their teams to innovate and connect with customers in meaningful ways. As we navigate the evolving landscape of AI and customer engagement, it’s clear that embracing social media data isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for driving future business success.

If I had to share some motivation with fellow execs, it would be this: Take inventory of where your current and future customers are. There are few companies that can say this isn’t on social. If that’s true for your business, how do you plan to show up for them?

Looking for more on how to find a social media management platform that drives more revenue, boosts team efficiency, enables strategic focus and outperforms your competition? Consult the Social Media Management Buyer’s Guide.