The 5 stages of social media maturity

With this knowledge, companies can develop the appropriate plans to mature, increase their adoption, measure and test their efforts, and work to take full advantage of the benefits of social media companywide.

The model also provides a guide for inbound marketing agencies to identify where their clients and prospects are in terms of social media maturity.

Source: Forrester Research

The size of a company should determine the speed at which it can or should mature.

Trying to jump from the dormant phase to the empowering phase too fast might have horrifying effects on a brand. Not only will the left hand not know what the right hand is doing, but the fingers and toes will be blissfully ignorant of one another, too. This can lead to mixed messaging, social media faux pas, duplication of efforts, and incorrect budgeting.