• Adweek, Tuesday, March 17, 2009 11:15 AM

A new report from Forrester Research claims that social media has not yet entered the mainstream, as 75% of marketers have budgeted less than $100,000 for social media efforts over the next year. Instead, 45% of respondents said their social media budgets are determined on an "as-needed" basis.

"In order to be successful, brands have to have dedicated strategy and programs to make these (venues) work like their other marketing vehicles," Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang said. Despite the recession, 53% of respondents said they expect to increase spending on social media, while 42% said their social media spending would stay the same. Five percent said they would decrease spending. "Social media is new so marketers are trying to pull budgets out of other areas," said Owyang. "It's very early days for most marketers."

The Forrester report is based on interviews with 145 interactive marketers. Three quarters of these work at companies with over 1,000 employees. The survey was conducted between November 2008 and February 2009.

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