Duke survey shows social media spending on the rise

Twitter and Facebook are quickly becoming staples in U.S. companies’ marketing strategies.

According to the latest Chief Marketing Officer Survey conducted twice per year by Duke University, companies predicted they will increase spending on social media by as much as 10.4 percent over the next five years. With 249 responses from major U.S. companies, the survey revealed an increased emphasis on social media as a part of businesses’ marketing strategy.

“Effective use of social media is no longer an option for companies,” Christine Moorman, the T. Austin Finch senior professor of business administration at the Fuqua School of Business and the director of the CMO Survey, said in a Sept. 6 news release. “Going forward, companies that most effectively deploy social media will be best positioned to serve their client bases. This is particularly true as digitally savvy customers assume a greater percentage of buying power and as these customers assume higher and higher positions in companies.”

Moorman said considering the current state of the economy, the increases in social media spending are surprising. She added that although businesses may feel pessimistic about the economy, it is not stopping them from spending a considerable amount of money on marketing.

“This spending may also help reignite customer interest to open their wallets and thereby stimulate growth and pave the way for a better economy for all of us,” she said.

Although the CMO Survey found no direct correlation between social media advertising and increased revenue, some local businesses believe in direct benefits from social media strategies.

Durham’s popular frozen yogurt shop Local Yogurt has seen increased sales due to social media, said Kiya Ward, director of Local Yogurt’s marketing department. Utilizing Facebook and Twitter to highlight specific daily promotions such as buy-one-get-one-free deals and daily specials, Local Yogurt also uses a blog to post specific details about upcoming events.

“My favorite thing is when we put up a picture of a specific frozen yogurt combination, and then customers come in and say, ‘I saw the picture on Facebook, and I want that,’” Ward said.

This recorded shift to social media still remains relatively new to both the business and consumer worlds. Although the CMO survey indicated increasing social media efforts, the companies in the survey also admitted that social media is not well integrated throughout their entire firms.

Ken Rogerson, director of undergraduate studies for public policy, said although social media has supplemented businesses’ marketing strategies, it has not yet developed into a direct replacement.

“Studying social media is not something that’s going to change their business practices,” Rogerson said. “Social media is reaching large numbers of people, but it’s just a tactic among many that they can use to get the message out, like telemarketing was in the mid-’90s.”

Despite varying results from companies on how social media is affecting profits, Moorman said the CMO survey showed that incorporating social media into marketing strategy is crucial for a modern business.

“There is no way that they [businesses] can be able to ignore this trend, because it’s only going to increase over time,” she said.

Although time alone may be the only way to reveal a link between a company’s success and social media marketing, technology permanently transformed methods of advertising.

“People are on social media—sometimes even more than they’re watching TV or listening to the radio,” Rogerson said. “But are they customers? Maybe or maybe not, but there’s certainly more of a chance that they will be. [Companies] will see if they can actually turn these friends and followers into buyers and sales.”