Social Media Quotient - What's your SMQ

Social Media Quotient is a great place to start your social media efforts. It helps you identify where you are in the social chain. It helps establish a baseline and you can track progress from here – trending upwards, of course!

We believe, businesses today fall in the following areas of the social maturity curve
a. Initial
b. Managed
c. Defined
d. Leader


This Maturity Model is patterned on the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The CMM is a methodology used to develop and refine an organization’s software development process. The CMM describes a multi level graduated path that provides a framework for prioritizing actions, a starting point, a common language and a method to measure progress.



The model provides the framework for assessing and evaluating. Having an assessment of where you currently are within each category provides a framework for determining where you want to be. The goals and structure of an organization will drive which category to attack first and to what maturity level they choose to achieve. It is not necessary to address all categories at the same time nor is it necessary to achieve the same level of maturity within each category. All measurements are made at a category level, not across the board. Where you are, and where you want to be, is the choice of your organization.

Most businesses start form initial and strive to get to a managed state. It is important to establish a baseline and at a minimum have a managed social media program. Once you are at managed state, you can work to harvest and leverage the community and engagement to get desired outcomes leading to states 3 and 4.