Survey: Social Marketing spend to increase 88%

Marketers can look for an increased number of ad dollars going to social networks. That is the result from a new survey by Prospero Technologies. About 33% of those surveyed said they planned to increase spending on social network advertising in 2008.

by Kristina Knight

“The majority of respondents see engagement with their brand as the most important measure of social media success,” said Rusty Williams, co-founder and vice president of Prospero technologies. “But . . . businesses are becoming more sophisticated in creating new revenue sources through social media, with 12 percent citing ad revenue and nine percent reporting sponsorships as important measures for success.”

The survey was conducted in September and found that 59% of respondents felt their social media performance met or exceeded objectives in 2007; 31% said they planned to spend more on social media in 2008.

Marketers are finding that social outlets are helping them meet their ROI goals. About 35% reported positive ROI from social marketing campaigns however, 41% said they weren't able to accurately measure simply based on revenue numbers. About 17% said that site traffic was the best way to measure performance while 15% reported that total page views or number of subscribers were most important.