Social Media to become focus for marketers in 2010
Alterian annual survey finds
that two thirds of marketing professionals are to invest in social
media over the next 12 months
London – 21 January 2010 – Today Alterian (LSE: ALN) released
the results of their seventh annual survey. The sample covered 1068
marketing professionals worldwide and found that 66 percent of
respondents will be investing in Social Media Marketing (SMM) in
the next 12 months. Of those investing in SMM 40 percent said they
would be shifting more than a fifth of their traditional direct
marketing budget towards funding their SMM activities. This
supports other statistics from the survey which found that the
majority of respondents (67 percent) feel social media is either
'increasingly important' or 'critical to success'.
Commenting on the survey results Alterian CEO, David Eldridge,
said, "2010 marks the start of the digital decade for marketing.
Untargeted and irrelevant marketing techniques are now redundant
and the results of this survey show many in the industry recognise
this. The one thing to remember, however, is that investment in
Social Media Marketing is futile without adequate measurement."
The survey found more than a third (36 percent) of respondents
are investing in social media monitoring and analysis tools. This
is a significant percentage considering the maturity of the channel
and reflects the growing understanding that a social media
marketing strategy needs to be based on listening to customers and
prospects and its ROI needs to be measured. Eldridge continues,
"Without the adequate investment in listening and measurement tools
it renders any anticipated investment in social media ineffectual.
The key to an effective social media strategy is listening."
The survey went further to explore the extent to which
organisations integrate marketing technologies across their
organisation. Almost half of respondents (42 percent) said they
don't incorporate clickstream and web analytics data into their
customer and email database. "This is a worrying statistic as it
shows many organisations are losing any advantage that this
valuable actionable insight could give them" adds Eldridge.
The research also explored the importance of customer engagement
and found that over half of respondents (51 percent) are placing a
'fair' or 'significant' amount of effort on moving from a
campaign-centric direct marketing model towards multichannel
customer engagement – in fact only 7 percent are making no
effort at all. Eldridge concludes, "Engaging with customers is
becoming paramount and the yardstick by which we measure those
brands that survive and those that don't. Marketers now need to
appeal to the individual and engage with customers on a one-to-one
basis. The easiest way to achieve this is by investing in Social
Media Marketing and Social Media Monitoring, and by embracing the
web."
The 7th annual Alterian Survey will be launched at a
webinar at 1600 (GMT) on 21 January 2010. To secure a space or to
watch a replay of the webinar, visit
www.alterian.com/news__events/events/january_2010_webinar.aspx
To obtain a copy of the full report of the Alterian Annual
Survey results visit: www.alterian.com/resources/research.aspx
Notes to Editors:
Alterian's research program is designed to develop new insight
on issues and trends that affect direct marketers. More
importantly, Alterian believes that although many trends are easily
interpreted as challenges because of their short terms impacts, it
is critical to view the evolution of marketing with an eye for the
opportunities they present.
Survey respondents came from Europe (36%) North America (62%)
and Asia Pacific and other (2%).
About Alterian
Alterian (LSE: ALN) empowers organisations to create relevant,
effective and engaging experiences with their audience that help
build value and reinforce commitment to their brand, through the
use of the Alterian
Integrated Marketing Platform. Alterian drives the
transformation of marketing and communications, making it practical
and cost-effective for companies to orchestrate multichannel
engagement with the individual.
Alterian's unprecedented integration of analytics, content and
execution through industry leading tools, such as the Dynamic
Messenger email platform, SM2 Social Media Monitoring platform and
the award winning Content Management solutions, enables companies
to build integrated communication strategies which create a true
picture of the individual.
Alterian works with marketing services partners, system
integrators and agencies who recognize the need to plan and deliver
coordinated customer engagement services in partnership with their
clients. For more information about Alterian, products within the
Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform or Alterian's Partner
Network, visit www.alterian.com or the Alterian
blog at www.engagingtimes.com.
For more information, contact:
Matt Lambert
Bite Communications
+44 (0)20 8741 1123
alterianuk@bitecommunications.com
Karen Gibbons
Alterian
+44 (0)117 970 3200
karen.gibbons@alterian.com