Dive Brief:
- The CMO Survey, a biannual report first released in H2 2008 and sponsored by the American Marketing Association, Deloitte and Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, found social media spending will reach a 20.9% share of marketing budgets over the next five years, but only 11.5% of respondents can demonstrate the impact of that spending.
- Even more telling, only 3.4% of marketing leaders said social media contributes very highly to their company’s overall performance, and 40% said the contribution was below average.
- One reason the report found for the social media spending/impact disconnect was social media information from customers wasn’t being folded in with other customer integration.
Dive Insight:
As social media marketing continues to grow in importance, one of the biggest changes it saw in the past year has been its transforming into a key player for advertising dollars. However, effective marketing strategies require brands to know their consumers, so any disconnect could undermine a campaign's overall value.
"This lack of 360 degree understanding of customers makes all of marketing, including social media, less effective," Christine Moorman, a Fuqua professor and director of The CMO Survey, said in a statement regarding the lack of integration.
Social media platforms are seen as a place where brands can directly reach current customers and prospects, and they can do so in real-time. The problem, Moorman noted, is that companies need to take a broader, more encompassing approach to their social investments.
Moorman added, "Companies are spending a lot on social media right now, but demonstrating its contribution depends on more than investment in analytics, though that will help. Firms must also take other steps to integrate social with the rest of the company's marketing strategies. This will require changes to where social media is located, its involvement in the planning process, and consideration of how the firm's customer and brand assets are managed in social media."
The survey covered more than social media and other findings include that marketing hires are expected to increase 5% this year, and marketing budgets are expected to increase 6.9%, stronger than any point since 2012.