Monday, March 4, 2013

Social Media Skyrockets

This week an article from Fast Company caught my eye: in the next five years, chief marketing officers anticipate social media budgets more than doubling, to 22% of the total marketing budget.

A huge shift, but the landscape of social media is changing quickly--no longer optional, cute or kid stuff, social media is business critical and the dollars reflect it. Social media companies are well positioned: the cost of promoted tweets and trends has skyrocketed. According to All Things D, the cost of a promoted trend on Twitter rose 33% over last year, now at $200, 000 per day. 

Facebook community managers are already well aware of paid posts on that platform. Facebook smartly places a "promote" link at the bottom of every page post, so if your post doesn't perform as you had hoped, you can fix it with a click of a button--and dollars, of course.  For those bemoaning the fact that much content is never actually seen by the people that "like" your organization, this can be a tempting option. The New York Times Bits blog recently featured the upset caused by this reality and the looming question of whether Facebook's practices constitute a monopoly.

What's happening in your organization or business? Are you dedicated more of your budgets to social media? If so, where are you cutting back, if at all?