CMOs Are Falling Behind In Social Media Race

0 Comment(s) | Posted Nov 17, 2009 by Peter Wylie

Peter Wylie

New research from Hill and Knowlton indicates that most CMOs don’t spend much on social media marketing yet.  Of the 124 CMOs that participated in the study, 55 percent said they spend less than 5 percent of their budget on social media, and an additional 30 percent said they spend less than 10 percent.

Businesses in general have been lagging behind the social media engagement of adult Internet users, 1/3 of whom are now actively using social networks.  Print publishers have also been slow to engage in social media, despite intense pressure on their revenues from emerging media outlets.

Perhaps new tools for monitoring interactions and relevant conversations, such as ones discussed by IT consultant Dan Woods in the latest edition of Forbes, could display the benefits of active social media engagement for these businesses and CMOs that are reluctant to enter the online social environment. 

Mitch Joel, of Six Pixels of Separation, has a great post about how online advertising is shifting to meet consumer preferences.  These CMOs holding out on engaging more broadly in the social sphere need to pay attention, because shifts in user behavior are occurring rapidly. Tried and true methods will not be nearly as effective in the next decade, and CMOs would be wise to adapt to the trend, so they don’t miss a crucial opportunity to beat their more timid colleagues into the social media profit opportunity.

- Pete

Filed under: Emerging Media, News, Old World Changing, Online Communities