1. March, 2011
Social Media Marketing - Friends, Links,
Tweets, Lend Me Your Ears!
The past decade brought a significant change in buying behavior; social Analyst Insight
networks are now used to access and share any information on virtually Aberdeen’s Insights provide the
every organization. In June and August 2010, Aberdeen surveyed more than analyst perspective of the
450 executives for the 2011 Marketing Executive's Agenda. The responses, research as drawn from an
received from companies of all sizes and across all industry segments, aggregated view of the research
highlight the crucial factors driving marketing programs: most companies surveys, interviews, and
understand the rising use of social media and plan to increase their data analysis
investments in the medium accordingly. However, most organizations are
struggling to develop an adequate business case and strategy to leverage
social media adequately in the marketing mix. In fact, a majority of
organizations do not have executive support to undertake such efforts. This
Aberdeen Analyst Insight will review how top performing companies
establish a business case for social media, and use the differentiating factors
they deploy as a result to improve their marketing effectiveness.
Figure 1: 12 Month Marketing Spend Projections
80%
67%
60%
291% Higher
40%
23%
20%
0%
Percent of Companies Increasing Spend
Number of respondents, n=453
Social Media Traditional Media
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2011
Business Context
The speed and breadth of changes in the marketing arena is intense. Indeed,
Aberdeen's research from the 2011 Marketing Executive's Agenda indicates
that while companies face greater competition and economic uncertainty,
more than half of all marketers surveyed are simultaneously required to
demonstrate a measurable ROI with fewer dollars and resources available
to execute them. Yet, survey results indicate that spending on social media
by all companies will increase by 2.9-times or more over the next 12
This document is the result of primary research performed by Aberdeen Group. Aberdeen Group's methodologies provide for objective fact-based research and
represent the best analysis available at the time of publication. Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Aberdeen Group, Inc.
and may not be reproduced, distributed, archived, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent by Aberdeen Group, Inc.