What is more important for social media marketers – having a presence on social sites, or advertising in social space? A report from Microsoft Advertising and Advertiser Perceptions asked this question to social media marketers around the world, in regards to both Facebook and Twitter.
On Facebook, 74% (nearly three-quarters) believed having a brand presence is important, but advertising on the social network was only important to 57%. For Twitter there was less disparity between the numbers: 47% felt having a presence was important, and 42% felt advertising was important.
However, of those with a brand page/account on Facebook or Twitter, 56% said “turnover was too high” and 52% said their fan/follower base was “not target-appropriate.”
According to eMarketer, 72% of those marketers also agreed that measuring ROI from social media was “too hard.”
The study also examined social media marketing budgets. Nearly half (48%) of these budgets are used to attract new members to brand pages. The breakdown:
- 28% focused on attracting fans/followers from social sites such as Facebook or Twitter
- 20% focused on finding fans from outside of these sites
- 19% of budgets go toward keeping current Facebook or Twitter communities engaged
- 20% of budgets are spent on paid media to maintain existing social media fan bases
According to marketers, having a brand presence trumps having advertisements on both Facebook and Twitter. Will brands find better ways to obtain fans/followers within their target audience, and to retain them with the right level of engagement? And what tools will emerge to make measuring social media ROI an easier task?
