66% of companies are Using Social Media in 2009

Nearly two out of three companies are Using Social Media in 2009.

As marketers embrace new media platforms, social media and viral videos have seen the largest jump in ranking, according to a survey done by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), BtoB Magazine and in partnership with marketing services firm ‘mktg.’ The survey had the following findings:

  • 66 percent of marketers utilized social media in 2009, as compared to 20 percent in 2007
  • Fifty percent employ viral videos, up from only 25 percent in 2007
  • 55 percent of respondents funded new media formats by shifting funds from their traditional media budget, while 48 percent shifted funds from other marketing communications budgets. Twenty-six percent of marketers created an incremental budget.
  • The top concerns for marketers when considering newer media platforms are the inability to prove ROI (45 percent) and having metrics to properly allocate the mix of traditional and digital media (43 percent)
  • Among social networks being embraced by all marketers, the top sites used are:
    • Facebook (74 percent)
    • YouTube (65 percent)
    • Twitter (63 percent)
    • LinkedIn (60 percent)

Fortune 100 CEO’s and Social Media

by Gio Gutierrez

UberCEO recently did a study with the headline “It’s Official: Fortune 100 CEOs Are Social Media Slackers.” It goes on to analyze the social-media habits of CEOs at large companies and concluded, shockingly, that they don’t use social media much. They looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog. The results show a miserable level of engagement. Here are the topline results:

  • Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts
  • 13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than 10 connections
  • 81% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page
  • Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information
  • Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog

I’m surprised but then again… I’m not surprised. Too many CEOs think there are more important things to do besides identify with and build an audience for themselves and their company. I also suspect the reasons CEO’s aren’t using social media is because of fear and lack of knowledge seeing that the CEO’s that stood out of the pack are all from technology companies – Michael Dell (Dell), Gregory Spierkel (Ingram Micro) and John Chambers (Cisco).