According to a study presented at a Pivot Conference (in partnership with Extra Mile Research) entitled "Marketers' Current and Future Use of Social Media," 63% of marketers are already investing in social media marketing, and of the 37% that are not currently investing in social media marketing, 62% are planning to invest, including 46% who plan to do so within one year.
Other key findings include:
The scale of social media, and the involvement of its users, make social media a compelling platform for marketers, concludes the study, with hundreds of millions of users creating profiles and engaging in online dialogues. The study was designed to explore marketers use of social media, motivation for usage, and plans for future use as well as marketers measurement and analysis of social media programs.
The primary motivation for using social media as a marketing vehicle, says the report, is to follow customers and prospects to the sites where they are active, generating a growing understanding of the unique two-way nature of this marketing environment. Motivations to begin social media marketing include:
To what degree are marketers embracing the "user involvement and participation" culture of social media? The study indicates user involvement with marketing campaigns and brands is welcomed by most marketers. 57% welcome user involvement enthusiastically, while another 13% seek customer involvement, but are cautious about the process and outcomes.
Customer Brand Involvement Within Social Media | |
Marketer Position | Percent of Respondents |
We seek social media users to become involved with our brand and we generally welcome the outcome of customer involvement and participation | 57% |
We seek some customer involvement with our brands within social media, but we approach this with caution and try to maintain controls over the process | 13% |
We invest in social media sites, but have not yet structured campaigns that encourage customer engagement with our brands but are planning to in the next 6 months-to-1 year | 17% |
We invest in social media sites, but don't have plans for customer engagement with our brands | 6% |
Don't know/Does not apply | 6% |
Other | 1% |
Source: Pivot, August 2010 |
Although this study and the sampling techniques focused primarily on marketers, respondents indicated that a number of departments within their company have become involved in social media marketing and customer engagement.
Departments Involved in social media marketing
Of those corporate (non-agency) respondents already involved in social media marketing, 47% manage the process in-house. 21% use full-service ad agencies to conduct their social media marketing, 9% use agencies that specialize in social media marketing, and 18% use a combination of full-service and specialized agencies to conduct the campaigns.
The study results indicate that social media marketing investments remain a modest portion of most companies' online budget. 74% are currently spending 20% or less on social media marketing.
Investments In Social Media Marketing | |
Percent of Online Budget | % of Respondents |
Less than 10% | 51% |
11% - 20% | 23% |
21% - 40% | 9% |
41% - 60% | 4% |
Don't know | 13% |
Source: Pivot, August 2010 |
Investments in social media marketing need to be viewed within the context of marketers testing and adopting new platforms. While current usage may be low for platforms like mobile applications and location-based sites, high percentages of marketers are planning to use these platforms.
Investment In Internet And Mobile Advertising Platforms (% of Respondents) | |||
Platform | Currently Using | Planning To Use | No Plans To Use |
Search engines | 89% | 8% | 2% |
Social media | 84% | 9% | 7% |
Micro-blogging / Presence applications | 72% | 18% | 10% |
Video sharing | 70% | 24% | 6% |
Dedicated content sites | 50% | 11% | 39% |
Blogs | 49% | 21% | 30% |
Content Portals | 46% | 16% | 38% |
Presentation sharing | 44% | 24% | 31% |
Mobile apps | 39% | 42% | 19% |
Social bookmarking/news | 36% | 30% | 34% |
Advertising networks | 31% | 15% | 54% |
Live streaming | 29% | 24% | 47% |
Photo/video sharing | 28% | 22% | 50% |
Reviews | 27% | 22% | 52% |
Location-based | 23% | 35% | 42% |
Music and audio sharing | 19% | 19% | 62% |
Online games | 11% | 23% | 67% |
In-game advertising | 5% | 23% | 72% |
Virtual worlds | 3% | 16% | 81% |
Source: Pivot, August 2010 |
Of the marketers that have already begun investing in social media marketing, only 30% report having their social media measurement strategy fully implemented. 42% percent have not yet implemented any strategy to measure and analyze their programs. This level of measurement contrasts significantly to other online advertising efforts, which are known to be consistently measured by marketers:
Finally, among those marketers measuring the success of their social media marketing, 89% are satisfied, though the largest segment are only somewhat satisfied with their programs.
Level Of Social Media Marketing Success Based On Measurement, Analysis, And Goals For The Program (% of Marketers Measuring) | |
Success | % of Respondents |
Cannot tell | 11% |
Unsuccessful | 0% |
Somewhat successful | 59% |
Very successful | 30% |
Source: Pivot, August 2010 |
To review the complete report, with charts and graphs, please visit here.
Is anyone else concerned that the sample size was only 137 people? Can that audience sizes be statistically sound?
Maybe we should run our own survey Andrew. :)
Ultimately looking just at sample size alone can be misleading. The size of any sample needs to be reasonably proportional to the population it studies in order to be consider statistically sound. When you are surveying a swathe of marketers with budgets larger than $1m per annum, it will be by default a smaller population. On August 11, Media Post published data from a Forbes survey - http://bit.ly/boWvsB
similar demographic with only 103 respondents.
The sample size would be more useful if we had some other data about the group--what makes them similar and at least we could say that 137 people of X group feel this way. I am noticing that more businesses using Four Square are offering coupons and "free." This has changed over the past three months. Of course I'm only one..thanks for taking the time. the info is interesting.
The sample size would be more useful if we had some other data about the group--what makes them similar and at least we could say that 137 people of X group feel this way. I am noticing that more businesses using Four Square are offering coupons and "free." This has changed over the past three months. Of course I'm only one..thanks for taking the time. the info is interesting.
Hi Lisabeth -
There's more data about them in the actual report. years of experience, budgets, age etc.
http://www.pivotcon.com/its-confirmed-marketers-plan-to-spend-more-on-social-media-programs-next-year/