CMO Survey: Social Media Marketing Budgets Expected to Increase

As marketers continue to implement new tactics into their strategies, new research suggests that social media is playing a more prominent role.

The American Marketing Association, Deloitte and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business recently conducted “The CMO Survey,” and discovered that spending on social media has increased more in the last year (between August 2017-2018) than in any prior survey year. Back in August 2017, about 9.8 percent of marketing budgets was going toward social media. As of August 2018, nearly 13.8 percent of marketing budgets is being spent on this tactic.

Over the next 12 months, marketers stated that they intend to spend as much as 16.3 percent of their budgets on social media. Within the next five years, this percentage jumps to 22.9 percent, indicating a steady increase in this marketing tactic.

Currently, B2B product marketers claim they spend 9.7 percent of their budgets on social media, while B2B services marketers say they spend 13.9 percent on it.

Social Media as a Marketing Channel

Social, in general, remains a popular channel for marketers, according to previous research. Alongside email, it is one of the top digital marketing channels for businesses.

Clutch recently published its “How Businesses Use Digital Marketing in 2018” survey and discovered that social media (81 percent) is the top digital marketing channel for marketers. This is followed by website (78 percent) and email (69 percent).

In regards to goals for 2018, the majority of respondents (28 percent) said they want to increase sales/revenue. Nearly 83 percent think their digital marketing efforts are effective in helping them achieve their goals.