Last month, MIT Sloan in collaboration with Deloitte released a study, “Social Business: What Are Companies Really Doing?” that highlights the growing importance of social business initiatives, among other things.

Most respondents (52%) think that social business is important or somewhat important to how they operate. About 86% of managers believe social business will be important or somewhat important in the next three years. Also, social business is mostly seen as a tool for activities that engage outside audiences. Here are more insights:

  • Respondents say that marketing, sales and customer services are most responsible for driving social business adoption
  • On average, respondents say that the most important use of social business software is for managing customer relationships
  • The second most important use of social software is to innovate for competitive differentiation

Reading the full report (link here, registration required) shows that social business is about more than just marketing. The study features several case studies from McDonald’s, Lego, Nationwide, and Luminoso, highlighting how social business impacts innovation, operations, and leadership. Below, it explains how social business can do much more than just change how a brand interacts on social media.

I think we can all agree that social business isn’t just a buzzword any longer, despite what the critics say. It’s real life and it can help solve real life business problems.