56% Plan to Use Social Media Analytics in 2012

Employing social media analytics is a top priority for marketers this year, according to the Adobe 2012 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey released today. Attribution modeling, in contrast, is low on most marketers’ priority lists.

The report, which highlights survey results and expert insights from ClickZ contributors, emphasizes that marketers should shift money from customer acquisition to marketing optimization to save money or generate new revenue. Of the marketers responding to the survey, eight in 10 said they allocate 15 percent or less of their marketing budget to on-site optimization.

When asked to identify the top five optimization strategies they intend to employ this year, marketers cited website analytics and social media analytics. Ranked at the bottom of the list: attribution modeling, automated recommendations, and on-site search.

Adobe, which offers online business optimization software, recommends organizations adopt optimization techniques around these areas: site search or “content findability,” automated recommendations and cross-selling opportunities, testing, and personalization.

The survey found that 53 percent of digital marketers fail to optimize on-site search results and 26 percent “manually tweak” results – meaning that marketers are potentially missing a big opportunity to convert visitors into customers. Optimizing site search “is about guiding visitors to exactly what they want to find, enhancing overall navigation, and providing an efficient path for users to meet their goals,” the report said.

The survey results also suggest that testing efforts are coming up short. One in four marketers say they do not test their marketing programs. “From awareness through conversion and then to loyalty, testing is an essential element to success,” said Jeff Lerner, VP, digital media, Prime Visibility and a ClickZ Experts contributor.

In social media, top tactics that marketers are pursuing include social sharing (e.g, Facebook, Twitter icons on pages) and social community pages, including blogs. Ranked low on the priority list: user-created collections for sharing/purchase and live chat.

In other highlights:

• Of those marketers who implement personalization technologies, 49 percent of the respondents said they use manual processes.
• Video marketing content is in high demand this year; color swatching and 3D visualization are not. (See chart, below)
• In mobile marketing, creating a mobile-optimized website is a top priority; check-in rewards are not.

 

Methodology: More than 1,700 digital marketers answered the Adobe 2012 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey. (Registration is required to obtain a copy.) ClickZ marketing experts Julie Batten, Jeff Lerner, and Rob Graham contributed to the report.

This story was originally published on June 1, 2012, and comes in at No. 10 on our countdown of the 10 most popular ClickZ news stories of 2012. As ClickZ looks back over the past year, we’re celebrating the best of 2012, as determined by our readers. Enjoy!