Other key findings of the study (view a gallery of infographics) include that 75 per cent of respondents have had social-media programs in place for more than a year, that 88 per cent place responsibility for social media within the marketing department, and that 80 per cent consider a mobile strategy important for social-media marketing.
Conducted in May, the online survey included 125 respondents from a variety of industries, nearly half of whom cited marketing as their primary job function and nearly half of whom were senior and C-level executives. The respondents were about evenly split between brands and agencies, and respresented 18 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Michael Lazerow, Buddy Media chief executive officer and co-founder, said the study indicates growing optimism about social-media advertising and shows that the medium is transforming from a "consumer phenomonon to a business force".
The good news, according to Lazerow, is that budgets are in place to support social-media marketing. The bad news is that talent remains a barrier. In fact, clients frequently ask Buddy Media whether it can help to hire experienced social-media or "community" managers. The reality is that the pool of such individuals is very small. "There is no university of social-media management," he said.
Beyond the key findings, Lazerow pointed to some notable differences between how Asian and North American respondents treat social media. The Asia study revealed a higher usage of YouTube than in North America, for example.
More significantly, compared with their Asian counterparts, who consider social-media a marketing department responsibility, more North American companies distribute responsibility for social-media activity across their organization, including corporate communications and customer service, Lazerow said.
