Report Projects Boom in Social Media Spend for 2011

A report published today by Office Cavalry indicates that UK business' social media spend will increase significantly in 2011.

Office Cavalry asked 1,000 UK businesses about their current and future plans in relation to social media marketing. The results revealed that:

• 71% of UK businesses hope to improve their social media presence in 2011. What's more, 25% of them consider improving their social media presence a high priority.
• In response to this demand, the number of vacancies for social media marketers will increase drastically, both agency and client-side.
• Currently, around 5% of UK businesses employ 'Twitter Experts' or in-house social media marketers. Whilst this number looks set to double in 2011, that still leaves 90% of businesses with no in-house social media resource.

Thus a signifcant portion of this new interest in social media will be shouldered by agencies and freelancers. Of the two, an agency seems the better option (we would say that, right?) and here's why:

It isn't enough for a social media marketer to know how to use Twitter and Facebook. They need to have a working knowledge of search engine optimisation and how the search engines work, plus they need access to web design and web development resources for the creation of avatars, custom Facebook tabs and Twitter backgrounds. They also need the support of a comprehensive online marketing plan.

Basically, one person sitting on Twitter saying stuff like "Hey guys, check out our new [insert mundane product]!" to 15 spam followers isn't going to cut it. To really make social media work, you need a team of people with knowledge of SEO, social media, web design and development...

Coincidentally, that's exactly what an agency like I-COM offers.

Got a question about social media marketing? Follow us on Twitter (@I_COM), give us a call on 0161 402 3170 or send us an e-mail and we'll get back to you.