Social Media Trends Report

Transcription

1 Social Media Trends Report Global statistics on current social media marketing trends SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2009 Executive Summary Change in online marketing budgets Social Networking Usage Worldwide usage of social media Social Media Marketing Online marketing spending and social site usage Social Media Advertising Spending Worldwide spending on social media marketing Facebook and MySpace US and worldwide advertising spending Social Media Tools Tools currently used and those to be added Importance & Effectiveness How marketers rate social media tools Lead Generation Social media marketing and lead generation Tracking Social Media Primary objectives and ROI tracking metrics Conclusion Benefits of social media marketing Unless otherwise specified, the source of all statistics is emarketer.

2 Executive Summary Social Media Marketing is Rapidly Growing in Popularity As the online population continues to grow worldwide, so does the popularity of using social media tools. The increasing usage of social media offers marketers an exceptional opportunity to allocate their marketing dollars toward a medium that allows them to more effectively reach their target audience. According to findings from the recent emetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, 42% of marketers worldwide plan to increase their marketing spend via social media, while 35.5% plan to maintain their current budgets. Interestingly, video advertising spending will see the largest increase in 2009 (61.5%). This Social Media Trends Report is a brief synopsis of the current social media trends, specifically regarding social media usage, advertising spending, leading Web 2.0 tools and tracking the ROI of social media marketing. This report will hopefully help you identify where your company stands with social media marketing. Page 2

3 Social Networking Usage Worldwide usage of social networking sites Social Networking Site Users In Canada, 86.5% of the total online population use social networking sites 85.2% of Brazilian Internet users are on the social networks The UK social networking population stands at 78.4% The social community remains strong in Spanish speaking countries with 73% in Mexico and 70.7% in Spain Meanwhile, in the US, 70.2% of Internet users participate in social networks Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn Most Popular Among Professionals 62% of at work Internet users worldwide use LinkedIn for professional purposes, while 33% use it for personal reasons 34% are on YouTube for personal use while 55% visit the site for professional reasons Interestingly, the comparison between personal or professional use of Twitter, Digg and Delicious is very close with a 1 2% difference Meanwhile, 27% of at work Internet users participate in MySpace for personal reasons and 8% use it for professional purposes Page 3

4 Social Media Marketing Online marketing spending and social site usage Top 3 Areas to See Increase in Online Marketing Spend: Social, Search and Mobile 77% of senior marketing executives worldwide said they would increase word of mouth or social media marketing spending in 2009 Meanwhile, 12% said they would maintain their current budgets on social media marketing 60% of those surveyed said they would increase video advertising spending while 24% said they would maintain their budgets Search and mobile marketing will see increase in spending as well (76% and 75% respectively) Social Media Sites Used by Online Marketers The majority of online marketers (65%) use Facebook as part of their marketing strategy On the other hand, 49% of marketers incorporate Twitter into their strategy Marketing via YouTube is being utilized by 39% of marketers, while 38% use LinkedIn to market Delicious and Digg are also being utilized as marketing channels according to 31% of respondents Page 4

5 Social Media Ad Spending Worldwide spending on social media marketing Social Networking Ad Spend According to emarketer, social networking advertising spending worldwide will increase each year by about 10% Marketers will spend a total of $2.35 billion advertising on social networks in 2009 (a 17% increase over 2008) In 2010, $2.6 billion will be allocated toward social network advertising By 2013, social networking ad spend will reach $3.5 billion, an increase of 9.6% over the previous year s estimated spend Change in Social Media Marketing Spending According to Aberdeen Group, 21% of best in class companies are increasing their social media marketing spending by 25% or more in % will increase their social media marketing budgets by 11% 25% this year 26% of best in class companies will spend 1% 10% more advertising through social media Meanwhile, 34% said they would maintain their current social media marketing budgets Note: Best in class companies are defined by Aberdeen Group as those that placed in the top 20% of aggregate performance scorers in three key criteria: likelihood of customers recommending their products or services, return on marketing investment (ROMI) and customer acquisition rate. Page 5

6 Facebook and MySpace US and worldwide advertising spending Unique Visitors to Select Social Networking Sites Facebook and MySpace were ranked as the most popular social networking sites in million unique visitors participated in Facebook (a 116% increase over the previous year) MySpace received 120 million unique visitors (16% increase) Interestingly, the social network that saw the largest increase was LinkedIn (125%) to 12 million unique users as of November 2008 MySpace and Facebook Advertising Spending Advertising spending on MySpace worldwide reached $605 million in 2008, according to emarketer In the same year, $250 million was spent advertising on Facebook In 2009, it is estimated that Facebook advertising spending will reach $300 million As per emarketer, MySpace advertising worldwide will decrease slightly in 2009; however, non US marketers will increase their MySpace advertising spending by $5 million Page 6

7 Social Media Tools Tools currently being used and those expected to be added Social Media that Online Businesses Currently Use Blogs are considered the top communication tool, according to 29% of online businesses RSS feeds are used by 23% of online businesses, making it the second leading social media tool User ratings, rankings and comments were ranked in third place with 22% of respondents Meanwhile, 19% of online businesses use syndicating content on social sites as part of their marketing strategy Social Media that Online Businesses Plan to Add A total of 32% of online businesses plan to add blogs to their marketing strategy in 2009 User ratings, rankings and comments will be added by 31% of online businesses this year 26% of respondents said they will start using RSS feeds And 23% of online businesses will integrate syndicating content to social sites as part of their marketing plan this year Page 7

8 Importance & Effectiveness How marketers rate social media tools Most Important Web 2.0 Technologies Social networking ranks second in importance behind Web services, among Web 2.0 technologies that companies worldwide use (32%) 31% of worldwide respondents said that a blog was the most important Web 2.0 technology Wikis received the response of 26% of worldwide companies in terms of its importance Meanwhile, 20% of companies said video sharing was the most important Web 2.0 activity Social Media Rated Very Effective by Online Businesses When online businesses were asked about the effectiveness of social media, the majority (36%) said user ratings, rankings and comments were most effective Ranked as the 2nd most effective social media strategy was usergenerated ratings/contests (30%) 27% of businesses agreed that user generated visual content was most effective Syndicating content to social sites and blogs received the response of 19% and 18% of businesses respectively Page 8

9 Lead Generation Social media marketing and lead generation Importance of Social Media for Lead Generation 31% of business professionals rated company blogs as a critical component for lead generation, while 21% said they were an important factor YouTube was ranked as critical or important by 10% and 16% of business professionals respectively 16% of respondents consider Facebook an important channel of lead generation Twitter received the response of 14% in terms of its importance for generating leads Percentage of Leads Generated When examining the number of leads generated from various marketing channels, blogs and social media resulted in 8% of leads 16% of leads generated for businesses came as a result of search engine optimization marketing and pay per click advertising resulted in 14% and 13% of leads respectively Page 9

10 Tracking Social Media Primary objectives and ROI tracking metrics Primary Objectives of Social Media Marketing According to marketers worldwide, branding was ranked as the primary objective of social media marketing (29%) 26% of marketers said that driving traffic to their website was the main goal of marketing via social media 18% of respondents said that lead generation was their primary objective, while direct online sales received the response of 11% of marketers Methods Used to Track ROI of Social Media The majority of marketers worldwide (23%) use the number of clicks/visitors to track the ROI of social media marketing 19% use the number of sales as an ROI tracking method, while 11% use the value of their sales 10% of worldwide marketers said they track social media marketing ROI based on the number of leads Meanwhile, page impressions and profit margin each received the response of 9% as an ROI tracking metric Page 10

11 Conclusion Social media will change the way companies market Social Media Marketing Offers Several Benefits With the widespread adoption of social media, marketers are using this popular medium as an advertising channel to generate results. When surveyed, social media marketers worldwide identified the following benefits: Business exposure Increased traffic, subscribers and opt in list New business partnerships Higher search rankings Qualified leads Reduction in overall marketing expenses More closed business The growing population of social media users and the benefits of social media marketing are among the many reasons to start integrating this channel into your marketing strategy. However, the key to succeeding in social media marketing is to implement the right tactics, measure your results and adjust your campaigns accordingly to achieve your online business goals. Contact your WSI Consultant for more information about social media marketing. Page 11