Today, Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) honored four Forrester Groundswell Award winners for excellence in effective use of social media to advance an organizational or business goal. The winners were announced at Forrester’s Forum For Marketing Leaders in San Francisco. The eighth annual Forrester Groundswell Awards support and recognize the principles outlined in the Forrester books Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Harvard Business Press, 2008) and Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business (Harvard Business Review Press, 2010).

“Smart social marketers today aren’t just pursuing fans and followers — they’re using social media to create real business value,” said Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst Nate Elliott. “Our 2014 Forrester Groundswell Award winners and finalists used social reach marketing to create discovery and awareness; they used social depth marketing to support exploration and consideration; and they used social relationship marketing to foster post-purchase engagement. Put simply, they used social media to successfully support all the different parts of their marketing plans.”

This year, there were more than 100 Forrester Groundswell Award entries. The awards presented today represent the top entries in the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) divisions.

Winners of the Forrester Groundswell Awards were chosen across a range of categories based on Forrester’s Marketing RaDaR research, and they represent the strategic goals that Forrester advises organizations to consider when using social media to interact with their customers. A detailed overview of each winning entry, along with the finalists in each category, is available on the Forrester Groundswell Awards website.

Here are the winners of the 2014 Forrester Groundswell Awards:

Business-To-Consumer (B2C) Division:

  • Social Reach: MorningStar Farms Feel Good Grilling House Party by House Party and Kellogg
  • Social Depth: Social Gift Guide by PGA TOUR Superstore and Mass Relevance
  • Social Relationship: Photoshop Photography Program by Adobe

Business-To-Business (B2B) Division:

  • Social Reach: The Bomgar Insider by Bomgar

Forrester’s Forum For Marketing Leaders 2014

More than 900 people attended Forrester’s Forum For Marketing Leaders in San Francisco, which explored why marketers must go “beyond the campaign” to deliver real-time customer value. Marketing professionals received practical advice for positioning their firms for digital dominance by applying customer insights and context to provide inherently useful experiences. The Forum served marketing and strategy executives in a variety of professional roles, including marketing leaders with brand responsibilities, VPs and directors of marketing communications and media, VPs and directors of digital and interactive marketing, and senior marketing leaders responsible for marketing innovation.