CorpComms Magazine

Companies are risking 2011 social media budgets by inadequately justifying their spend in this arena, according to research by digital marketing consultancy Econsultancy and digital agency bigmouthmedia.

Despite more than eight out of ten companies anticipating a rise in digital media budgets in 2011, less than 76 per cent have developed a business case for the media channel and identified a return on investment, and more than two thirds confessed a need to improved social media techniques. 

More than 28 per cent of the companies surveyed spend nothing on social media marketing whilst a further third spend less than £5,000 a year. Those companies that are harnessing social media channels are often cautious to trial the newest digital tools such as location-based marketing and social gaming, preferring to stick to the more established platforms, Facebook and Twitter.

Very few companies are integrating their social media use with other online marketing efforts, such as email and search engine optimisation. Most are not tying their social media strategy into all divisions of the business which might benefit from listening and communicating online, such as sales, customer relations, development of products and services, and human resources.

David Hardy, group marketing director at bigmouthmedia, said: 'While the sector has matured over the course of the last 12 months, there is still massive room for improvement. Broadly speaking companies and their agencies remain self-critical about their social media tactics, with most acknowledging that they need to improve their approaches to the channel across the board.'

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