A recent study from The Chartered Institute of Marketing has revealed that three quarters of marketers plan to spend more money on social media in 2012 than ever before. Following this, Marketing Week has taken a look at the effectiveness of social media platforms in regards to bringing in new custom and enhancing marketing campaigns.
The report conducted by CIM has analysed four major social networking sites, namely Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. The four have been compared and contrasted in areas surrounding reputation, audience interaction and customer enquiries. You can see the results in the chart below:



Twitter came out on top for most categories, beating out competition by a wide margin when marketers were asked which platform ‘adds value to reputation’. However, Facebook sees a return on investment for 16% of businesses, compared to Twitter’s 15% and LinkedIn and YouTube’s 9%.

Many businesses are now opting to market and sell particular products exclusively through social networking sites. Reckitt Benckinser is now selling a new Cillit Bang cleaning product solely via Facebook, and fashion brand Burberry have launched new perfume Body directly to those that have ‘liked’ their page. However, as Alex Pearmain of O2 UK states, having a large volume of followers does not mean a large volume of sales.

“This is led by sector, but if you are achieving above about a 2% engagement ratio, you are generally doing a pretty good job. Past 5% is very good,” says Pearmain, Head of Social Media. “It’s not difficult to acquire more fans through ad spend if that is what you are after. The challenge is keeping them engaged when you get them there.”

Companies such as XBox have adopted Twitter as a platform to resolve customer queries via new account @XboxSupport. It has recently branched out into ‘customer-to-customer’ support, where trusted users provide advice to those in need.

Even bakery giant Greggs have moved into social networking, with chief executive Ken McMeikan, praising the ability to interact directly with customers as “one of the most powerful tools for a chief executive, giving a greater sense of what is really happening in your business”.

He continued, “[Social] gives you what is on the customer’s mind in real time. If you have a business that is agile enough to reply and do something about it, you will have a growth business.”

28% of marketers have claimed to be ‘experimenting’ with their online marketing, which former Telefonica marketing director Russ Shaw recommends.

“These channels are very new. My advice would be to keep trying. Some things are not going to work, they are going to be a disaster, but some things will. Build on your learnings and what is working. Understand how these channels then relate to the specific audience you are trying to reach.”