81% of Firms are Using Social Media for Marketing – CMO Survey

I came across this chart last week that provides insight as to what types of marketing activities brands are using social media for.

The first big A-Ha from this information is that a full 81% of firms are using social media for marketing. If you aren’t using social media to build your business yet you are definitely behind the curve.

According to an August 2009 survey of CMOs 81% of firms surveyed are using social media to build brands and drive brand awareness.  This isn’t surprising – because of the reach of social media it is a great tool for generating awareness and building positive equity.  This also highlights some of the measurement issues with social media – brand awareness and equity (i.e. sentiment, recall, etc) are difficult and expensive to measure.  Specific testing budgets need to be set aside to measure these activities correctly.

There are a number of other surprise take-aways in this chart:

• Marketing Reasearch – Almost half of companies surveyed are using social media for marketing research – and why not?  Social media is a natural fit for research since you can get quick, unfiltered responses, or just listed to what people are naturally saying.
• Brand Promos – It isn’t surprising that 42% of marketers are using social media for promos, contests and giveaways.  The issue is that as the social space continues to become cluttered with brands fighting for attention the promos will have to be more targeted and meaningful.
• Identifying New Customer Groups - Since social media allows you to connect with a wide variety of people you can actually determine new audiences for your product just by paying attention to how people are already using it.  Targeting new groups can be a HUGE driver of new sales.
• Improving Products and Services – Listening and interacting with customers and potential customers can actually help you improve your products.  Learning what they like and don’t like through direct feedback helps brands improve their products.  Not really surprising is it?
• Identifying New Product and Service Opportunities – This is an interesting use of social media.  Social Media allows brands to monitor conversations and hear what customers are really thinking in an unfiltered way, without the expense or issues of a traditional focus group.  Just by listening and monitoring brands can gain insights into their consumers.

Key Takeaway:

Social Media can be used for far more than you maybe initially thought.  Look for creative new ways to leverage the power of social media beyond marketing at people.