Comprehensive analysis of the Social Media landscape, including statistics and trends.

1.
Social Media Trends Report
Social Media Trends Report
Global statistics on current social media marketing trends
Global statistics on current social media marketing trends
SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2009
Executive Summary 2
• Change in online marketing budgets
Social Networking Usage 3
• Worldwide usage of social media
Social Media Marketing 4
• Online marketing spending and social site usage
Social Media Advertising Spending 5
• Worldwide spending on social media marketing
Facebook and MySpace 6
• US and worldwide advertising spending
Social Media Tools 7
• Tools currently used and those to be added
Importance & Effectiveness 8
• How marketers rate social media tools
Lead Generation 9
• Social media marketing and lead generation
Tracking Social Media 10
• Primary objectives and ROI tracking metrics
Conclusion 11
• Benefits of social media marketing
Copyright © 2009 Research and Management Unless otherwise specified, the source of all statistics is eMarketer.

2.
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Social Media Marketing is Rapidly Growing in
Popularity
As the online population continues to grow worldwide, so does
the popularity of using social media tools. The increasing usage of
social media offers marketers an exceptional opportunity to
allocate their marketing dollars toward a medium that allows
them to more effectively reach their target audience.
According to findings from the recent eMetrics Marketing
Optimization Summit, 42% of marketers worldwide plan to
increase their marketing spend via social media, while 35.5% plan
to maintain their current budgets. Interestingly, video advertising
spending will see the largest increase in 2009 (61.5%).
This Social Media Trends Report is a brief synopsis of the current
social media trends, specifically regarding social media usage,
advertising spending, leading Web 2.0 tools and tracking the ROI
of social media marketing. This report will hopefully help you
identify where your company stands with social media marketing.
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3.
Social Networking Usage
Social Networking Usage
Worldwide usage of social networking sites
Worldwide usage of social networking sites
Social Networking Site Users
• In Canada, 86.5% of the total
online population use social
networking sites
• 85.2% of Brazilian Internet users
are on the social networks
• The UK social networking
population stands at 78.4%
• The social community remains
strong in Spanish‐speaking
countries with 73% in Mexico and
70.7% in Spain
• Meanwhile, in the US, 70.2% of
Internet users participate in social
networks
Facebook, YouTube and
LinkedIn Most Popular
Among Professionals
• 62% of at‐work Internet users
worldwide use LinkedIn for
professional purposes, while 33%
use it for personal reasons
• 34% are on YouTube for personal
use while 55% visit the site for
professional reasons
• Interestingly, the comparison
between personal or professional
use of Twitter, Digg and Delicious
is very close with a 1‐2% difference
• Meanwhile, 27% of at‐work
Internet users participate in
MySpace for personal reasons and
8% use it for professional purposes
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4.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Online marketing spending and social site usage
Online marketing spending and social site usage
Top 3 Areas to See Increase
in Online Marketing Spend:
Social, Search and Mobile
• 77% of senior marketing
executives worldwide said they
would increase word‐of‐mouth or
social media marketing spending
in 2009
• Meanwhile, 12% said they would
maintain their current budgets on
social media marketing
• 60% of those surveyed said they
would increase video advertising
spending while 24% said they
would maintain their budgets
• Search and mobile marketing will
see increase in spending as well
(76% and 75% respectively)
Social Media Sites Used by
Online Marketers
• The majority of online marketers
(65%) use Facebook as part of
their marketing strategy
• On the other hand, 49% of
marketers incorporate Twitter into
their strategy
• Marketing via YouTube is being
utilized by 39% of marketers, while
38% use LinkedIn to market
• Delicious and Digg are also being
utilized as marketing channels
according to 31% of respondents
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5.
Social Media Ad Spending
Social Media Ad Spending
Worldwide spending on social media marketing
Worldwide spending on social media marketing
Social Networking Ad Spend
• According to eMarketer, social
networking advertising spending
worldwide will increase each year
by about 10%
• Marketers will spend a total of
$2.35 billion advertising on social
networks in 2009 (a 17% increase
over 2008)
• In 2010, $2.6 billion will be
allocated toward social network
advertising
• By 2013, social networking ad
spend will reach $3.5 billion, an
increase of 9.6% over the previous
year’s estimated spend
Change in Social Media
Marketing Spending
• According to Aberdeen Group,
21% of best‐in‐class companies are
increasing their social media
marketing spending by 25% or
more in 2009
• 16% will increase their social
media marketing budgets by 11% ‐
25% this year
• 26% of best‐in‐class companies
will spend 1% ‐ 10% more
advertising through social media
• Meanwhile, 34% said they would
maintain their current social media
Note: Best‐in‐class companies are defined by Aberdeen Group as those that placed in the top 20% of
marketing budgets aggregate performance scorers in three key criteria: likelihood of customers recommending their
products or services, return on marketing investment (ROMI) and customer acquisition rate.
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6.
Facebook and MySpace
Facebook and MySpace
US and worldwide advertising spending
US and worldwide advertising spending
Unique Visitors to Select
Social Networking Sites
• Facebook and MySpace were
ranked as the most popular social
networking sites in 2008
• 200 million unique visitors
participated in Facebook (a 116%
increase over the previous year)
• MySpace received 120 million
unique visitors (16% increase)
• Interestingly, the social network
that saw the largest increase was
LinkedIn (125%) to 12 million
unique users as of November 2008
MySpace and Facebook
Advertising Spending
• Advertising spending on MySpace
worldwide reached $605 million in
2008, according to eMarketer
• In the same year, $250 million was
spent advertising on Facebook
• In 2009, it is estimated that
Facebook advertising spending will
reach $300 million
• As per eMarketer, MySpace
advertising worldwide will decrease
slightly in 2009; however, non‐US
marketers will increase their
MySpace advertising spending by
$5 million
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7.
Social Media Tools
Social Media Tools
Tools currently being used and those expected to be added
Tools currently being used and those expected to be added
Social Media that Online
Businesses Currently Use
• Blogs are considered the top
communication tool, according to
29% of online businesses
• RSS feeds are used by 23% of
online businesses, making it the
second leading social media tool
• User ratings, rankings and
comments were ranked in third
place with 22% of respondents
• Meanwhile, 19% of online
businesses use syndicating
content on social sites as part of
their marketing strategy
Social Media that Online
Businesses Plan to Add
• A total of 32% of online businesses
plan to add blogs to their
marketing strategy in 2009
• User ratings, rankings and
comments will be added by 31% of
online businesses this year
• 26% of respondents said they will
start using RSS feeds
• And 23% of online businesses will
integrate syndicating content to
social sites as part of their
marketing plan this year
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8.
Importance & Effectiveness
Importance & Effectiveness
How marketers rate social media tools
How marketers rate social media tools
Most Important Web 2.0
Technologies
• Social networking ranks second in
importance behind Web services,
among Web 2.0 technologies that
companies worldwide use (32%)
• 31% of worldwide respondents
said that a blog was the most
important Web 2.0 technology
• Wikis received the response of
26% of worldwide companies in
terms of its importance
• Meanwhile, 20% of companies
said video‐sharing was the most
important Web 2.0 activity
Social Media Rated Very
Effective by Online
Businesses
• When online businesses were
asked about the effectiveness of
social media, the majority (36%)
said user ratings, rankings and
comments were most effective
• Ranked as the 2nd most effective
social media strategy was user‐
generated ratings/contests (30%)
• 27% of businesses agreed that
user‐generated visual content was
most effective
• Syndicating content to social sites
and blogs received the response of
19% and 18% of businesses
respectively
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9.
Lead Generation
Lead Generation
Social media marketing and lead generation
Social media marketing and lead generation
Importance of Social Media
for Lead Generation
• 31% of business professionals
rated company blogs as a “critical”
component for lead generation,
while 21% said they were an
“important” factor
• YouTube was ranked as “critical”
or “important” by 10% and 16% of
business professionals
respectively
• 16% of respondents consider
Facebook an important channel of
lead generation
• Twitter received the response of
14% in terms of its importance for
generating leads
Percentage of Leads
Generated
• When examining the number of
leads generated from various
marketing channels, blogs and
social media resulted in 8% of
leads
• 16% of leads generated for
businesses came as a result of
search engine optimization
• Email marketing and pay per click
advertising resulted in 14% and
13% of leads respectively
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10.
Tracking Social Media
Tracking Social Media
Primary objectives and ROI tracking metrics
Primary objectives and ROI tracking metrics
Primary Objectives of Social
Media Marketing
• According to marketers
worldwide, branding was ranked
as the primary objective of social
media marketing (29%)
• 26% of marketers said that driving
traffic to their website was the
main goal of marketing via social
media
• 18% of respondents said that lead
generation was their primary
objective, while direct online sales
received the response of 11% of
marketers
Methods Used to Track ROI
of Social Media
• The majority of marketers
worldwide (23%) use the number
of clicks/visitors to track the ROI of
social media marketing
• 19% use the number of sales as an
ROI tracking method, while 11%
use the value of their sales
• 10% of worldwide marketers said
they track social media marketing
ROI based on the number of leads
• Meanwhile, page impressions and
profit margin each received the
response of 9% as an ROI tracking
metric
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11.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Social media will change the way companies market
Social media will change the way companies market
Social Media Marketing Offers Several Benefits
With the widespread adoption of social media, marketers are
using this popular medium as an advertising channel to generate
results. When surveyed, social media marketers worldwide
identified the following benefits:
• Business exposure
• Increased traffic, subscribers and opt‐in list
• New business partnerships
• Higher search rankings
• Qualified leads
• Reduction in overall marketing expenses
• More closed business
The growing population of social media users and the benefits of
social media marketing are among the many reasons to start
integrating this channel into your marketing strategy. However,
the key to succeeding in social media marketing is to implement
the right tactics, measure your results and adjust your campaigns
accordingly to achieve your online business goals.
Contact your WSI Consultant for more information about social media marketing.
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