2 in 5companies do not have a return-on-investment (ROI) figure for any of the money they spend on social media marketing, according to
[download page] a November 2011 report from Econsultancy in partnership
with LBi and bigmouthmedia.
Data from the “State of Social 2011 Report”
indicates that a further 26% say they can only attribute an ROI figure
to a tiny amount of the money they spend on social media. Just 1 in 5
say they have an ROI figure for at least half of their social media
marketing investments, representing a 23% decrease from 26% of
respondents in 2010. According to a study released by IBM in October 2011, 62% of CMOs cited lack of ROI certainty as a barrier to using new technology, while 68% reported feeling unprepared for social media.
Problems with Measurement Down, But Remain
The proportion of companies responding to the Econsultancy survey
that say they are unable to measure the value they have received from
social media investment has dropped 21% from 2010, yet remains at a
significant 37%. For those that feel confident measuring social media
value, the results are mixed: 20% report social media to be less
valuable than other marketing activities, up 18% from 17% of respondents
in 2010, while a similar proportion (19%) say the value is greater than
other marketing activities, up 27% from 15% of respondents in 2010.
The supply-side findings are similar, though slightly more
encouraging: the proportion of agencies who say their clients are unable
to measure social media value has fallen 38%, from 34% to 21%. Among
those who measure value, 23% say they see a greater return from their
social media marketing activities, virtually unchanged from 2010, while
21% see comparably less value, up 24% from 17% in 2010. One-third of
agency respondents say their clients see similar returns than other
marketing activities, up 38% from 24% in 2010.
Investment Increase Planned
Although many respondents struggle with social media ROI and value
measurement, the vast majority of companies (79%) and supply-siders
(87%) plan to increase their spending over the next year. The proportion
of companies who expect their level of investment to remain the same
has risen 25% from 16% in 2010 to 20% this year.
Site Traffic Main Metric
2
in 3 companies report that direct traffic to their site is one of the 3
most important metrics used to assess social media activity, roughly
double the proportion to attribute that importance to brand awareness
(34%) and customer engagement (33%). Compared to 2010, the proportion
signaling sales to be a top 3 metric has tumbled 48%, from 29% in 2010
to 15% this year. By contrast, sales (30%) and leads (23%) are far more
important to supply-side respondents, although direct traffic (69%)
remains the top metric among them also.
According to the Q2 2011 Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing from
Adobe and Econsultancy released in July 2011, 91% of marketers believed
social media traffic volume to be an important metric, although just 31% reported currently measuring the value of that volume.
About the Data: The Econsultancy report is based on an
online survey of more than 1,000 respondents, carried out in September
and October 2011. Respondents included client-side marketers (or PR and
online communications specialists) and supply-side respondents working
either independently or for a range of different types of agency or
technology vendor.
http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/social-media-roi-not-well-understood-20055/
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