Prospero: Web Marketers Bullish on Social Media Spending

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The majority of web marketers are bullish on social media spending,  a recent survey of over 50 businesses and organizations conducted by Prospero Technologies, a provider of social media applications for leading brands.

According to Prospero’s 2007 Social Media Survey, 59 percent of respondents reported that social media performance in 2007 met or exceeded their marketing objectives, boosting future spending expectations - with 31 percent planning to spend significantly more on social media applications in 2008.

Survey participants were from leading brand organizations from a wide variety of industries, including Media, Education, Financial Services, Health, and Sports and Gaming.

When asked about social media ROI:

• 35 percent reported positive ROI
• 41 percent said that ROI was “unknown”

(For more tables from the Prospero study, see MarketingCharts’s coverage.) 

When asked about the most important criterion for assessing social media performance:

• 17 percent said that total number of site visitors was the most important
• 15 percent said total number of page views was the most important
• 15 percent said the number of subscribes/community members was the most important
• 14 percent said length of visit on the site was most important.

“The majority of respondents see engagement with their brand as the most important measure of social media success, while more concrete ROI measures such as sales and new business leads carry less weight,” said Rusty Williams, co-founder and vice president of Prospero Technologies. “But other findings show that businesses are becoming more sophisticated in creating new revenue sources through social media, with 12 percent citing ad revenue and nine percent reporting sponsorships as important measures for success.”

Prospero’s survey also revealed web marketer perspectives on current social media challenges. Top challenges (in descending order) included:

• Integrating community-generated content with the rest of the web site
• Understanding best practices for new/evolving technologies
• Keeping up with new social media technology advances

Regarding the types of social media applications currently in use:

• 13 percent said blogs topped the list
• 12 percent named discussion boards.

Looking ahead to 2008, discussion boards and blogs still top the list for web and brand marketers, followed closely by ratings and reviews and profiles/social networking applications.

When asked about their objectives for using widgets, respondents identified helping audiences promote conversations/interest on social media sites such as MySpace and Facebook (32 percent) and improving the speed and efficiency for implementing technologies on their site (29 percent) as the top uses.

Prospero’s 2007 Social Media survey was conducted online in September 2007, gathering responses from over 50 businesses currently using social media applications, including organizations from the following industries: Broadcast Media, eCommerce and eCRM, Education, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Online Media, Print Media - Magazines and Books, Print Media - Newspapers, Professional Associations, Sports and Gaming.