Marketers recognize the growing importance of online social media, but many lack the funds and expertise to take full advantage of it, according to Coremetrics’ second annual “Face of the New Marketer” survey.
While 78% of the 116 senior marketing managers responding to the survey see social media marketing as a way to gain a competitive edge, only 7.75% of total online marketing spend is devoted to it, Coremetrics found. That compares with an average of 33% of marketing spending going to online advertising and 28% to online promotion design and implementation.
Coremetrics defines social media marketing as user-generated content, including reviews, RSS feeds, podcasts, wikis and marketing in virtual worlds.
More marketers are adopting these tools, Coremetrics found. Over the past year, 58% of those responding to the survey have implemented user-generated content or reviews, 31% a blog and 25% an RSS feed.
In addition, most marketers surveyed said they had plans to implement a social media marketing program at some point, even if not within the next 12 months, Coremetrics said. 50% said they plan to implement user-generated content or reviews, 22% a blog, 20% social networks, and 20% an RSS feed.
However, while many marketers recognize the need to implement or improve their social marketing programs, they cite a lack of tools and expertise as their greatest challenges.
The survey also highlights other mismatches between budgets and marketing priorities. While search engine optimization ranks as the top priority over nine other choices, including e-mail campaigns and online analytics, it ranks only fourth in terms of both time and budget allocation.
In addition, although e-mail campaigns continue to demand most of the marketer’s time (22% on average), the biggest portion of budgets (33%) goes to online advertising. Online promotion design and implementation ranks fifth in priority, but comes in third in terms of both time and budget allocation, according to Coremetrics.
“Marketers are aware of the impact that social media marketing can have on their overall program but view it as uncharted territory, not worthy of their budget,” says John Squire, senior vice president, product strategy at Coremetrics. “As more and more marketing tools become available, we’ll continue to see a greater divide between the perceived importance and resource allocation. The ability to accurately monitor the ROI achieved by new marketing tools will help marketers take that first step toward incorporating new digital marketing programs, as well as rethink the effectiveness of current campaigns.”
Coremetrics conducted the survey during the third quarter.
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