Companies are to spend more on social media

According to ‘The Social Media and Online PR Report’, published by Econsultancy in association with Bigmouthmedia, and based on a survey of over 1,100 companies and agencies, 86 per cent of companies plan to spend more money on social media in 2010, and a further 13 per cent report that they are planning to keep the same level of budget.

Fifty-four per cent of those polled cited their biggest barrier to better social media engagement was ‘a lack of resources’, with 90 per cent of businesses stating that social media ‘is taking up more time internally than it did a year ago’.

The research also found that many companies are continuing to experiment with social media even though they still do not appear to be ‘reaping any measurable benefits’. Only 25 per cent of companies adjudged that they have gained ‘real, tangible value’ from social media, whereas 60 per cent reckoned that they had gained ‘some benefit but nothing concrete’. However, 52 per cent of respondents who are heavily involved said they have gained real value, compared to only 13 per cent of companies who ‘experimented but not done much’.

A majority of organisations - 62 per cent - are using the micro-blogging site for publicising new content, with 54 per cent using the channel for marketing or brand monitoring (47 per cent). Only 27 per cent of companies are using Twitter as a customer service tool for reacting to issues and inquiries, while 25 per cent use Twitter as a customer feedback tool. Seven per cent, meanwhile, feel that Twitter is ‘over-hyped’ and ‘a fad’.

More information:
www.bigmouthmedia.com
www.econsultancy.com