According to a new study released today by The National Retail Federation’s Shop.org and Forrester Research, social media marketing budgets are mostly on the rise despite an overall reduction in spending.
Mashable’s Adam Ostrow breaks it down like this:
• Spending on social media is falling at a slower rate than spending in other online marketing channels, such as search engine marketing (i.e., pay-per-click)
• Among retailers that are reducing spending, 56 percent are trimming search engine marketing, while only 24 percent will cut their social media marketing budget
• Among retailers that are performing well, 12 to 20 percent will increase spending in social media marketing
• Among retailers that are increasing budgets, 80 percent will put money into search, while 65 percent will put more into email marketing
As Adam points out, search marketing is a much larger space than social media marketing. This means that there is more money to be cut from search budgets, which helps explain why search dollars are being slashed faster than social media dollars.
I can’t say I was surprised by this study, but the findings were definitely encouraging. From what I’ve experienced so far, the social media trend doesn’t seem to be going away or slowing down anytime soon. It’s been a successful, cost effective option for companies in this economy, and I certainly see it growing by leaps and bounds once things pick up and businesses recover.
What are your thoughts on the study? Are you surprised by the results?
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