A recent Altimeter Group report produced by Charlene Li and Brian Solis,  addressed the social business evolution in the enterprise. According to the research in The Evolution of Social Business: Six Stages of Social Business Transformation, companies tend to fit along one of six stages of social business maturity.

Becoming a fully social business is more than simply a social media strategy that lays out channels, platforms, and tactics to achieve listening and engagement. Social businesses ensure relevant technologies and processes are integrated into business values and practices to build valuable internal and external relationships.

34% of business executives feel their social strategy is connected to business outcomes. [Tweet this]

The last stage, a fully converged social business, directly ties social strategies to business goals while also ensuring social drives transformation within the company. In the final stage, the business has become social and it’s here where companies commit to a single business strategy process — social merges with digital, holistic customer experiences are created using converged media, and a social culture is formed.