The State of Online Branded Communities 2010

ComBlu’s study of 78 brands and 241 communities shows significant progress in adoption of best practices and a more strategic orientation to social engagement.

Plenty of good news:

• The percentage of brands exhibiting a Cohesive Strategy jumped from 20% to 33%, and the number of companies that qualified as High Performers increased from 11% to 33%.
• Activity levels are also significantly higher:
  • The use of strategically-aligned engagement tools nearly tripled.
  • Integration between branded online communities and mass social media increased from 32% to 76%.

And, lots of fertile ground for improvement:

• Nearly half of brands have no visible community manager.
• Fewer than 40% of brands have a rewards and recognition program.
• Only 20% of brands have a clearly identified advocate base.

• Brands are doing a much better job of delivering diverse engagement activities and are personalizing their community experience.
• Companies are applying a more disciplined approach to the deployment of their social assets.
• A few industries are applying a Center of Excellence approach.