According to a recent study released by Unica, a marketing technology provider based in Waltham, Mass., marketers in North America are doing a pretty good job of utilizing or planning to utilize social media.
The study, titled “The State of Marketing 2010,” found that 47 percent of 155 respondents said they are currently using social media marketing tactics, including blogs, Facebook and user communities.
Meanwhile, 23 percent plan to use these tactics in the next 12 months, and 10 percent plan to use them after 12 months. Eleven percent said they had no plans to use social media, while 9 percent weren’t sure.
Marketers in North America were keener on social media than their European counterparts, Unica found. Though 58 percent of North American marketers currently use social media marketing tactics, only 34 percent of European marketers said the same.
Eighteen percent of marketers in North America said they plan to use social media in the next 12 months, while 30 percent of marketers in Europe said the same.
Though only 4 percent of North American marketers had no plans to use social media, 20 percent of European marketers said the same. These figures seem to indicate that Europe is about a year behind North America in terms of the use of social media in marketing efforts.
In terms of specific social media marketing techniques, 56 percent of respondents said they currently use third-party social networking sites, while 26 percent they plan to use them in the next year.
Fifty percent currently use blogs, 44 percent use microblogging and 44 percent utilize viral content/word of mouth, according to the survey.
Meanwhile, 39 percent use co-hosted online communities and 39 percent use RSS feeds. While 36 percent currently use user-generated content, 27 percent plan on utilizing this tactic in the next 12 months.
Voting features/product reviews are being used by 33 percent of marketers, with 25 percent planning on implementing these in the next year, while 32 percent currently use syndicated content, with 21 percent planning on using this in the next year.
According to Datran Media’s “4th Annual Marketing & Media Survey,” 72 percent industry executives said their companies have Twitter accounts, and 72.3 percent said their companies have Facebook pages.
In response to the question “Do you believe social media will generate quantifiable results in 2010,” 50.4 percent said “Yes,” 12.0 percent said “No” and 37.6 percent were “Unsure.”
Sources:
http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/almost-half-of-marketers-use-socnets-12254/
http://www.datranmediasurvey2010.com/start.php?showtype=page-1
Digg 
