Leading Research Firm Says 2010 Will Be a Big Year For Social Media

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Leading Research Firm Says 2010 Will Be a Big Year For Social Media

Forrester Research, one of the world’s leading technology and market research companies, says marketers are expected to spend over .5 billion on social media in 2010, an increase of 10.4% over 2009. Offline advertisers will increasingly move online and internet advertising will make up 21 percent of overall advertising budgets, up from 12 percent last year. There will be an accelerated migration of ad dollars from traditional to digital media and this will gather momentum over the year.

Forrester Research continues: “In 2009, the majority of interactive marketers tested Social Computing tactics, ranging from Facebook pages to blogs and communities. In 2010, marketers will move out of test phase and treat Social Computing as a mature channel, setting budgets and establishing formal listening and measurement plans. This maturation will push the value of Social Computing and its insights deep into company departments beyond marketing, setting up organizations to fully embrace Social Computing and becoming more transparent and interactive with consumers. As Social Computing matures, both marketers and vendors will feel pressure to not only prove its profitability but also ensure consumer privacy.”

There are major shifts in social media marketing as well. Facebook, with 350 million users worldwide, is the number one destination for marketers in the US and many worldwide markets. It will surpass its rival, MySpace, in ad revenues in 2010.

Marketers will make social networks a priority for 2010, but a large part of their spending will go toward building and maintaining a social network presence. Paid social network advertising will be secondary.

Social marketing will also see the biggest growth with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34 percent for the next four years, double the average growth rate for overall online marketing spending. It will increase in the U.S. to more than .1 billion by 2014, a 34% compound annual growth rate, according to Forrester Research

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