Below the line spending on Social Media Marketing continues to increase according to a recent CMO Survey from Duke University and the American Marketing Association.
According to eMarketer:
Marketers were already planning on upping spend in August 2009. They have continued to increase outlays since then, with respondents in February 2010 claiming they will devote nearly one-fifth of their marketing budgets to social media in the next five years.
Social Media Marketing Budget
Looking across sectors, business-to-business (B2B) spending is nearly in line with business-to-consumer (B2C), except in the lagging B2B products category. While B2C services were behind the game in August 2009, spending in that area has caught up and will remain in line with other outlays for the next several years. B2B product marketers will remain behind the curve over the next five years.
B2B B2C Social Media Spending
Notably, spending plans for every sector were higher in February 2010 than they had been just six months earlier.
Growing B2B spending on social media lines up with the general goals of B2B marketers: customer relationship management and brand-building, which respondents claim will be the highest growth areas in the next year. Social marketing, with its strength in boosting brand engagement and loyalty, is an effective medium for both purposes.
While many marketers plan to increase their below the line spending on social media marketing in the coming months and years, an inability to directly measure social media marketing’s performance and return on investment will ultimately keep many a marketers social media plans from reaching an above the line marketing expense.
@TimCohn | Author Tim Cohn's Blog 