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How Much Do Brands Spend on Social Media Marketing?

budget investmentThere is no set rule related to how much brands should invest in social media marketing, but currently, the majority spend less than 20% of their market budgets on social media. That’s according to a study by Advertising Age and Citigroup that found 49.5% of U.S. marketers spent between 1%-10% of their marketing budgets on social media and another 19.0% spent between 11% and 20% of their budgets on social media.

The most surprising discovery from the study is the 9.7% of U.S. marketers who spend nothing on social media marketing. The specific breakdowns for social media marketing and digital marketing budgets follow:

  • 0% of the Marketing Budget = 9.7% social media; 3.0% digital
  • 1%-10% of the Marketing Budget = 49.3% social media; 24.3% digital
  • 11%-20% of the Marketing Budget = 19.0% social media; 19.3% digital
  • 21%-30% of the Marketing Budget = 8.5% social media; 11.4% digital
  • 31%-40% of the Marketing Budget = 4.3% social media; 7.4% digital
  • 41%-50% of the Marketing Budget = 3.6% social media; 6.2% digital
  • 50% or More of the Marketing Budget = 5.3% social media; 17.2% digital
  • Not Sure = 0% social media; 11.1% digital

On a positive note, respondents to the June 2012 survey did indicate that their budgets are increasing. In fact, 72.9% of respondents indicated that their social media budgets would go up in the next year. Of course, the biggest problems for marketers are getting executive buy-in to gain approval for a social media budget and tracking results effectively. Companies that aren’t investing in social media yet (the 9.7% mentioned above) are falling way behind and will have a hard time catching up.

I’m actually surprised by the digital marketing investment numbers, too. According to the survey, 27.3% of U.S. marketers are investing 10% or less of their marketing budgets in digital marketing. Given the fact that consumers and businesses typically turn to the web for product, service, and brand information first, it’s hard to believe that there are still companies that don’t invest in digital marketing or invest such a small percentage of their budgets into digital marketing. Let’s hope their digital marketing budgets will be going up in the near future.

What do you think? Will your social media marketing and digital marketing budgets increase in the next year? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Sufi Nawaz

Olympic Brand Sponsor Tracker Ranks Brands in a Virtual Foot Race

olympic brand tracker unrulyIn a creative effort to identify which Summer 2012 Olympic Games sponsors are generating the most social video buzz, Unruly Media created an interactive Brand Tracker tool that tracks the 25 Olympic Games brand sponsors in “a race for advertising glory.”

You can check out the embedded interactive infographic below. Just click the “Start Race” button to watch the leading brands race down the track. The top three finishers take their spots on the winners’ podium at the bottom of the chart when the race is over.

This is not only a useful tool to identify which brands are getting the biggest boost from their Olympic Games sponsorship investments, but it’s also a clever way to track brand buzz related to social video sharing in near real-time (the tool is updated every 12 hours). The data used to create the Unruly Media viral video chart comes from the Twitter and Facebook APIs as well as Unruly Media’s proprietary blog scanning engine, which tracks links and embeds of video ads from multiple sites.

You can drill down to specific video ads that are driving the most buzz using the viral video chart, too. Just click on any of the three brands on the winners’ podium at the bottom of the chart to view the top three ads for each brand that are getting the most buzz. You can even click on the ads to watch them and view graphs that show sharing trends for each ad. As I write this article, P&G is far in the lead followed by EDF and BMW in second and third place, respectively.

Small technology companies excel at creating clever tools like Unruly Media’s viral video chart. Imagine how your brand could come up with similar interactive and fun tools to tell your brand story!

Consumers Tell Brands “Your QR Codes Stink!”

qr code scanningQR codes started with a buzz, but they never really picked up the steam they should have. What’s the problem? Are consumers simply not interested in scanning mobile bar codes?

With so many people owning smartphones (expected to reach 58.3% penetration by 2014 in the United States), timely and useful QR codes would appear to be a fantastic marketing tactic. However, in 2014, it’s expected that just 15.7% of the U.S. adult population will use barcodes.

Even consumers who try using QR codes don’t use them more than once. During the third quarter of 2011, 60% of North American consumers who scanned QR codes did so only one time. That means QR codes have two problems: initial trial and repeat usage.

The problem to-date with QR codes is very simple if you listen to what consumers have to say about them. Brands aren’t offering the experiences from QR codes that consumers want. Why should consumers take time to scan a QR code if they don’t expect to get something of value in exchange for the effort?

As eMarketer reports, a September 2011 study (by the Association of Strategic Marketing) of U.S. marketers who used QR codes found that two out of three delivered QR codes provided product information to consumers. Less than one out of four QR codes delivered discounts, coupons, or savings.

Consumers want QR codes to offer discounts and freebies, but that’s not what brands are delivering. That’s the problem with QR codes, and usage won’t increase until consumers’ expectations for them are consistently met.

Specifically, eMarketer reports the following content that U.S. internet users would be interested in scanning QR codes for:

  • To get discounts, coupons, free items: 43%
  • To get more information about a product or service: 26%
  • To get exclusive content: 25%
  • To purchase or buy something: 23%
  • To get more information about an event: 22%
  • To get more information about a brand or company: 18%

Think of it this way — a QR code shouldn’t be any more interruptive to a consumer than it has to be. QR codes should add value and enhance consumers’ lives. Cluttering their lives with information they don’t need instantly won’t successfully encourage people to scan brand QR codes. However, a brand that learns how to deliver timely and useful information using QR codes, such as discounts, will develop a level of trust with consumers that will motivate those consumers to scan the brand’s QR codes again and tell their friends how great that brand’s QR codes are. Ultimately, that brand’s sales will go up.

Image: Brian Suda

Mid-Year 2012 Global Brand Buzz Rankings

brandindex 2012 mid year reviewYouGov BrandIndex Global Brand Buzz Rankings for the first half of 2012 have been released for 12 countries in 16 industry categories. The report ranks the top brands and the brands with the most improved rankings.

Survey respondents were asked if they had heard anything positive or negative about specific brands in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth. The top brands in the U.S. and U.K. according to the BrandIndex Buzz Rankings follow.

Top Brands in the U.S.

  1. Subway
  2. Cheerios
  3. Amazon
  4. History (Channel)
  5. Ford
  6. Discovery Channel
  7. Lowe’s
  8. Olive Garden
  9. YouTube
  10. Google

Top Brands in the U.K.

  1. BBC iPlayer
  2. Amazon
  3. Marks & Spencer
  4. John Lewis
  5. MoneySavingExpert.com
  6. Apple
  7. Sainsbury’s
  8. Cathedral City
  9. Samsung
  10. Google

The most improved brands in the U.S. and U.K. according to the BrandIndex Buzz Rankings for the first half of 2012 are:

Top Brand Buzz Improvers in the U.S.

  1. BP
  2. Toyota
  3. MTV
  4. Allstate
  5. Blue Cross/Blue Shield
  6. PBS
  7. Blockbuster
  8. Dockers
  9. Taco Bell
  10. Aflac

Top Brand Buzz Improvers in the U.K.

  1. BP
  2. British Airways
  3. Sky
  4. Ryanair
  5. British Gas
  6. Samsung
  7. Webuyanycar.com
  8. Scottish Power
  9. Cadbury
  10. London Underground

One of the most interesting highlights from the U.S. and U.K. brand buzz rankings is Google’s drop in both lists to tenth place in the top brand buzz lists. Consumers in both companies feel that the brand’s enormous reach and extension into businesses outside of what they expect from the brand they associate with internet search is becoming confusing. The perception of the brand is becoming less focused, and that’s always a problem for brands in the long-term. We’ll have to wait and see how Google handles it in the future.

The only other brand that made the top 10 brand buzz list in both the U.S. and U.K. is Amazon, which consumers’ score highly, particularly as the brand becomes more closely associated with technology through its Kindle ereader and the Waterstones e-reader (in the U.K.), as well as an upcoming launch of an Android Appstore in Europe. Technology products like these fit into the retail and ecommerce perceptions consumers expect from the Amazon brand, and they’re welcomed as the brand’s continued high buzz ranking shows.

You can follow the link to view the entire BrandIndex 2012 Mid-Year Global Brand Rankings report by country, industry category, and more.

Brands Take Notice – Teens Moving from Facebook to Twitter

teens facebook twitterWhen Twitter debuted in 2008, only 1 in 10 teens were using the microblogging site. Fast forward to 2012, and that number is up to 16% according to Pew Research — double 2011 usage statistics. This is something that brands need to take notice of and watch closely. Teens are fickle, and while it’s unlikely that Facebook’s 900 million users will suddenly abandon the site, there was a time when MySpace saw its younger users migrating to Facebook. In other words, when it comes to the teen audience, no brand is safe.

As Dave Williams explains on Ad Age, there are specific reasons why teens are starting to choose Twitter to interact with friends (and more) online. Teens view Facebook as a site for sharing content, photos, videos, and memories. On the other hand, Twitter is where teens have conversations in real-time. It’s like text messaging with a wider audience. Furthermore, teens like that they can use Twitter anonymously and create separate accounts to communicate with different audiences. Unlike Facebook where teens can’t hide from their parents and family, Twitter gives them the freedom that teens crave.

Dave writes, “Teens aren’t giving up on Facebook, but they’re treating it the same way the gainfully employed treat LinkedIn. They feel it’s important to maintain a page, but they check the social network sporadically. Twitter is where they go to check in throughout the day. ” This shift in behavior is something that brands need to take very seriously and consider in their future social media marketing efforts.

Bottom-line, it’s not surprising that teens are embracing Twitter, but are brands giving this migration the attention it deserves? My guess is that most brands are not — yet. And where teens are concerned, “yet” is already too late. Brands need to be aware of how teens use different social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, so they can effectively communicate with this audience wherever those teens are spending time.

Image: Julia Freeman-Woolpert

Job Ads in Print and Social Media

Reading New Scientist (print version) over lunch yesterday, I noticed that of the 13 companies (not agencies) advertising jobs:

  • 1 used a QR code, leading to the job-search page of the corporate site
  • 1 included a link to the corporate careers Twitter account
  • but 1 did not include even a website address (though it could be deduced from the email address given).

Apart from the fascination of unfamiliar job titles (Environmental Fate scientist?), there are two interesting things here.

  • One is the low level of reference to any social media activity, despite the recent infographic from Jobvite, which I saw at The Undercover Recruiter indicating that 92% of companies recruit using social media. 2 out of 13 is a long way from 92%. Of course, the others may be recruiting on line but not referencing that in print, but why not remind potential candidates to look you up online?
  • The other—which perhaps explains the first—is that the job ads have all moved online: there are 1,335 jobs available in the UK advertised at jobs.newscientist.com, vs the 22 advertised in print. So if you’re looking for a job, you know where to start: online, of course.

Interesting, but perhaps not unexpected.

In case you’re curious: that Environmental Fate scientist is needed to look at the environmental effect of chemicals from agriculture, industry and pharmaceuticals—you do take those unwanted medications back to the pharmacist for disposal, don’t you?