American businesses expect to spend more on their social media marketing efforts moving into 2013, but companies still face unique challenges when developing promotional programs. As Brafton reported, 65 percent of brands in the United States allocate social media tasks to nonspecialized employees on top of their other job responsibilities. What’s more, only 5 percent of marketers indicate they’re satisfied with how their employers measure and manage social media content creation.
While brands understand the value of social media, many companies don’t have enough resource to allow a dedicated team to work solely on developing interactive web presences through these networks. However, a new report from STRATA shows marketers may allocate more time and money toward social marketing in the new year.
According to Q3 2012 data from the source, 91.9 percent of survey respondents used social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Approximately 82.4 percent of U.S. agencies reported using Facebook to drive business engagement for their clients, with other popular platforms like YouTube (41.9 percent), Twitter (36.5 percent) and LinkedIn (23 percent) lagging far behind. As eMarketer notes, about two-thirds of the U.S. internet population will join and be active participants on social networks by the end of 2013, so marketers must ramp up their promotional efforts via these platforms in order to remain competitive. Google+ and Pinterest may be the New Year’s fastest-rising networks, as STRATA highlights significant quarter-over-quarter growth in 2012, and roughly one in four U.S. agencies will use these platforms moving forward.
StrongMail also reports in its “2013 Marketing Trends Survey” that financial investment in social media will increase in 2013. The agency found that 39.6 percent of brands worldwide plan to boost Facebook marketing spend, 23.3 percent plan to allocate more resource toward Twitter and 14.9 percent will increase Pinterest investment. More, 37 percent will spend more to measure social media marketing effectiveness.
With U.S. organizations dedicating more time to social media for branding purposes, companies may struggle to find enough in-house talent to manage promotional efforts through platforms like Facebook. Content marketing services, which employ creative professionals capable of populating social networks with fresh headlines for clients, may become even more valuable resources for companies looking to expand digital outreach.
