87% of Israeli advertisers plan to invest in social media marketing in 2010

Israeli marketing specialists intend to increase their spending on social media marketing (SMM) in 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Israeli Marketing Association and Financial Daily TheMarker.

According to the survey, 87 percent of Israeli advertisers plan to launch social media marketing initiatives in 2010, by acting on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, and approaching bloggers.

The survey was carried out by research firm Meida Shivuki, which is owned by Meirav Shapira and Noam Raz.

The number represents an increase in comparison to 2009, in which some 83% said they invested in social media. It is interesting to note that more than 70% of those, who were not active in social marketing, last year, said they plan to do so this year.

The report said that many advertisers include social media initiatives in their overall public relations activities. This is in line with the fact that 16% of those surveyed said they intend to increase public relationships (PR) expenditures and only 2% said they intend to spend less.

The survey included some 70 CEO's and senior VP Marketing from 166 Israeli companies that are members of the Israeli Marketing Association. The report shows that 2010 will be the fifth consecutive year in which advertisers will increase Internet advertising as some 47% said they intend to increase their online advertising budgets.

Brand marketers to increase use social marketing

Advertisers are continuing to increase their activities in social networking sites in hopes of generating viral brand awareness and affinity. 48% of brand marketers plan to use social marketing tactics in 2007, compared to 38% who did so in 2006. According to a new report, “Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” by JupiterResearch.

Social networking sites are designed for members to create and post content, usually in the form of profile pages. Youth surfers, especially between 18 and 34, are using social utilities websites like MySpace and Facebook to communicate with each other.

“30% of frequent social networkers trust their peers’ opinions when making a major purchase decision, but only 10% trust advertisements,” said Emily Riley, JupiterResearch Analyst and lead author of the report. “Consequently, brand marketers must harness brand advocates and influentials by providing additional motivation for frequent networkers to engage in social marketing.”

The report forecast that advertiser adoption of social tactics will increase competition for attention on social websites among users who are engaged in intense social activity with their peers. In addition to engaging brand advocates to involve social networkers, brand marketers must target interests and activities that attract frequent networkers, and earn trust by mastering social networking flow.

“As brand marketers increase their use of social tactics, they are competing not only among themselves but also with frequent networkers,” said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. “Brand marketers must not act on social tactics as a broad category but, instead, create unique campaigns for different sites.”