Marketing Spend at Social Media 2012

Companies are hiring, increasing spending and planning improvements for social media efforts

Companies are focusing a lot of effort on social media, and are investing resources and budgets in specific areas to improve this marketing tactic.

Over the summer of 2011, Booz & Co. and Buddy Media surveyed managers from Fortune 100 companies for their “Campaigns to Capabilities: Social Media and Marketing” report. Investments are needed across the spectrum of social media, and the Booz & Co. and Buddy Media study found that social media will become a higher percentage of total digital m
arketing spend in the next three years.

In 2011, 67% of respondents reported that social media made up less than 5% of their total digital spend. But when asked about how things would look in three years, 32% predicted social media will be between 5% and 10% of digital marketing spending and 27% predict it will be 10% to 20%. An additional 28% of respondents think social media will make up more than 20% of their digital marketing spend by that time.

Where is that money going? When asked about where they are making investments in social media, 57% of respondents said hiring full-time employees. Additionally, 48% highlighted services provided by partners, 39% said creating more content and 38% mentioned media buys.

Currently, 65% of respondents said they have plans in place to improve social media policies, 63% have plans for integrati on of social media into marketing plans overall, and 59% have plans for social media monitoring and rapid response capabilities.

But looking ahead, 56% said they are building plans for consumer insights generation via social media, or will build it soon, and 4

7% will build plans for key performance indicators and dashboards for social media. Interestingly, 41% of respondents said they don’t have any plans to build revenue-generating platforms from social media. Only 15% currently have such plans in place and 44% are building, or will soon build, such plans.

As social media becomes a more mature part of marketing and companywide plans, those leading the charge must figure out the strategies that will impact their businesses the most, and

invest their budgets and resources appropriately.