IAB: Social media still has a lot of growing up to do

Of the 180 agencies and brands surveyed by the Internet Advertising Bureau, almost 3 in 10 said that social media was, in the scheme of things, still a "teenager" and had a lot of growing up to do.

The survey found that, currently, less than half (43%) of social campaigns were integrated into the wider marketing function and more than half of brands never measure social media ROI. Agencies, on the other hand were more likely to measure social ROI with 35% claiming to do so some of the time.

However, both agencies and brands were set to invest more into the social channel over the next 2 years. Agencies said they were set to invest 33% more budget and brands 21%. According to Alex Kozloff, the IAB's director of marketing and communications, this might help social grow out of its teen stage into adulthood.

"The study revealed the industry's top four tips for succeeding in social are: being relevant, setting clear objectives early, being authentic and credible and being adaptable," said Kozloff. "The brands seen as leading the way [Coca-Cola, Nike, Virgin], which are dominated by large multinationals, are signature exponents of these principles."

The survey revealed that most social campaigns were being used to drive brand awareness (79%) as well as brand engagement and web traffic (both 75%). Seventy percent saw social as a driver of click-throughs and 65% for driving sales. Campaign effectiveness was measured in terms of engagement (55%), traffic (52%) and click-throughs (45%).

"Around 45% of social budgets are now allocated to paid campaigns and we expect this to grow as data increasingly drives activity, as has happened in other digital marketing disciplines," said Kozloff. "Data will enable more interesting things to be done with social - beyond just gathering fans - both in terms of delivering more sophisticated content and then measuring the impact."

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: agency, brand, social marketing, social media