The Enterprise

Growth Report
Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate
The Enterprise Growth Report

Social will power enterprise growth

It’s no secret that enterprise organizations are under pressure to maintain and
accelerate business growth at scale. The ability to stay one step ahead of the
competition while meeting the needs of consumers is paramount to an enterprise
organization’s success.

To maintain that edge, I expect we’ll see more brands prioritize social media
as their go-to resource for business intelligence. Insights from social can support
departments from sales to HR, inform an organization’s next product launch
and even uncover new business opportunities. Some CMOs do this already,
relying on social data to inform strategic decision-making across their entire
organization. As other executives catch on, I believe social will become
the most valuable resource for data and insights that move businesses forward.

As marketing leaders, it falls on us to champion social throughout the entire

organization to secure buy-in and resources—especially as marketing budgets
fall to an all-time low. In this report, we’ll examine data from the latest
Sprout Social Index™ to demonstrate why enterprise organizations need to lean
on social more than ever to maintain their innovative and competitive edge.

Jamie Gilpin, CMO at Sprout Social

Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate sproutsocial.com • @SproutSocial 2

The Enterprise Growth Report
Social is
business critical
As competition in every industry heats up,
enterprise organizations are using social to
maintain their business advantage. Looking
at the 185 enterprise marketers we surveyed
as part of the Sprout Social Index™, Edition
XVII: Accelerate, 91% agree social accelerated
competition within their industry while 85%
say social is what enables them to stay ahead
of their competitors.
Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate
82 85
Eighty-two Eighty-five
percent of enterprise marketers percent of enterprise marketers say
say their social strategy positively social media enables them to create
impacts their business’ bottom line. new products and services.
“Social strategies have a tremendous impact on both a company’s
bottom line and social positioning within the communities they
serve. Whether you are a for-profit or non-profit entity, social
engagement around your organization’s brand not only helps foster
personalization, but also yields robust and meaningful data about
your audience. The use of social listening tools, for example, allows
for organizations to learn more about their customer needs and
better target their sales and consumer experience strategies.”
Daryl Smith
Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at Kettler
sproutsocial.com • @SproutSocial 3
The Enterprise Growth Report

Deepen your How social data informs How social data informs
enterprise marketers’ enterprise marketers’
understanding understanding of their understanding of their
of customers customers competitors

and competitors
The insights from social give brands a better
1 It tells us what they like
about our brand 1 It tells us the strength of their
customers’ brand loyalty
idea of what their audience expects from them
It reveals the strengths and
and how they stack up against their peers.
More than half of enterprise marketers (57%)
2 It shows us how customers
use our products or services 2 weaknesses of our competitors’
products or services
say social data tells them what customers
It highlights where our
like about their brand while 40% say insights
from social highlight where their brand can
3 It tells us what they dislike
about our brand 3 brand can differentiate itself
from competitors
stand apart from competitors. It informs our understanding

But the majority of enterprise marketers are

4 It shows us the trends our
customers are interested in 4 of competitors’ customer
service efforts
missing out on the opportunity to surface It provides insight into what
unique insights to continue propelling their
organizations forward. For example: they
5 our customers expect from
us in the future
5 It tells us our competitors’
share of voice

can use social data to identify the trends their

customers are interested in, something only
41% of enterprise marketers currently do.
6 It enables us to know our
customers on a personal level 6 It provides insight into what our
competitors’ next move will be

Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate sproutsocial.com • @SproutSocial 4
The Enterprise Growth Report

Navigate your next

big play
The ability to quickly uncover new avenues “At Twitter, we see consumers come to our platform to
for growth is what separates market leaders
from the rest. Seventy-nine percent of
discover and talk about new products, as well as connect
enterprise marketers say they use competitor with like-minded audiences about their experiences.
insights from social to identify new business In fact, from 2019 to 2020, there was a 24% increase in
opportunities like market expansion or future
acquisitions. Additionally, 80% of these consumers talking about ‘trying new things’ on Twitter.
marketers say they identify new products or By analyzing the conversation across social networks like
services using competitor insights from social
and 86% say social enables them to stay on
Twitter, brands can uncover insights to help them inform
top of the latest trends in the market. their product development strategy and identify new
product opportunities.”
Unlike traditional market research, insights
from social can be gathered, distilled and
distributed to teams in a matter of hours, Amy Udelson
empowering key stakeholders to make Director of Marketing at Twitter
decisions almost immediately.

Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate sproutsocial.com • @SproutSocial 5
 16 10
The Enterprise Growth Report

Secure budget by
demystifying the
ROI of social
Enterprise marketers agree their social
strategies positively influence their
Sixteen Ten
percent of enterprise marketers use percent of enterprise marketers use
organization’s bottom line. But to achieve
social data to measure ROI. social data to inform business decisions.
their goals for social, they say the number
one resource they need is budget. To secure
sustainable funds, especially as marketing
budgets overall continue to fall, marketers “Social is becoming an essential channel for enterprise organizations.
should demonstrate how social impacts And while investments in social are increasing, there are still plenty
revenue and other other initiatives outside of unknowns at the leadership level. Teams that become fluent
of the marketing team. in social data, and apply it to empower functions beyond marketing,
will rise above the rest and win over allies in the C-suite.”

Jesse Goldman
Vice President, Customer Success at Sprout Social

Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate sproutsocial.com • @SproutSocial 6
The Enterprise Growth Report

One way enterprise marketers can build Describing cross-team collaboration efforts as they pertain to social
a case for more budget is by using social
data to empower and collaborate with
other departments, something only 37%
currently do. Those who can show how
social contributes to product development 52% Maintain some communication and collaboration with other teams and departments
or sales are better positioned to advocate
for additional leadership buy-in and
budget support. 24% Entire organization is committed to an integrated social program across departments

15% Operate in silos

9% Entire organization shares a common goal when it comes to their social efforts

Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate sproutsocial.com • @SproutSocial 7
The Enterprise Growth Report

Grow at the speed of social

As enterprise marketers look ahead to their organization’s future, social needs to be at
the heart of their growth strategy. With social, marketers are privy to the insights that can
help an organization innovate and advance their strategies in real time.

To learn how to harness the power of social data for your organization, reach out to
schedule your demo today.

Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate

The Enterprise Growth Report

About the data

The Sprout Social Index™ is a report compiled and released by Sprout Social. To learn
more about the data and methodology used, visit the Sprout Social Index™, Edition XVII:
Accelerate. Graphics are rounded to the nearest whole percentage and may not add
up to exactly 100%. Enterprise is defined as any organization with 1,000+ employees and
185 enterprise marketers were surveyed for this report.

For questions about the data, please contact pr@sproutsocial.com.

Sprout Social
Sprout Social offers deep social media listening and analytics, social management,
customer care and advocacy solutions to more than 25,000 brands and agencies
worldwide. Sprout’s unified platform integrates the power of social throughout every
aspect of a business and enables social leaders at every level to extract valuable
data and insights that drive their business forward. Headquartered in Chicago, Sprout
operates across major social media networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
Pinterest, YouTube and LinkedIn. Schedule your demo of Sprout Social today.

Insights from the Sprout Social Index™ XVII: Accelerate sproutsocial.com • @SproutSocial 9