Though social media spending is projected to constitute a growing share of companies' overall marketing budgets over the next 12 months, CMOs say, integrating social marketing into their overall strategies is still a challenge, according to a survey conducted by Duke University and the American Marketing Association. 

Social media spending is expected to account for 9.8% of marketing budgets over the next 12 months, up from the current 5.6%. Moreover, in the next five years, social spending is projected to climb to 18.1% of total marketing budgets.

Services companies are projecting the greatest increases in social spending over the next 12 months:

• B2B services companies are expected to increase their social spending to 12.2% of total budgets, from 6.9%.
• B2C services companies are increasing spending to 11.8% of budgets, from 8.8%.

Below, other findings from the February 2011 CMO (chief marketing officer) Survey, a nationwide poll of senior marketing executives conducted biannually, by The American Marketing Association and Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

Integrating Social Media into the Mix

Social media is still not well integrated with firm strategies: Just 10.5% of CMOs say social marketing efforts are effectively integrated into their overall marketing strategy, while 6.0% say social efforts are very effectively integrated into their company's overall strategy.

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2011 Budgets: Spending Shifts to Digital

Marketing budgets are expected to increase 6.7% on average over the next 12 months. Product-centric companies are projecting the largest increases, with B2C products firms up 20.4% and B2B products firms up 7.5% on average.

Overall, much of the spending growth over the next 12 months will be allocated to digital (12.1%), brand building (9.1%), and CRM (9.1%), while spending on traditional advertising is expected to edge up just 2.4%.

CMOs More Optimistic

On a scale of 0 to 100, CMOs now rate the US economy a 63.3, up from 55.6 in August 2010.

Some 68.8% of CMOs say they're more optimistic about the US economy than they were in the previous quarter, compared with 35.2% who said so six months earlier. In contrast, the number of less optimistic CMOs fell to 5.7%, down from 26.0% six months earlier.

Closer to home, CMOs rate their companies' prospects for revenue growth at 73.1 (on a scale of 0-100), up from 66.7 in August 2010.

Similarly, more than two-thirds of CMOs (67.5%) say they're more optimistic about corporate revenues than they were in the previous quarter, compared with the 63.9% who said so six months earlier.

Apple Leads in Brand Excellence

Asked to identify marketing leaders that set the standard for excellence across all industries, CMOs selected Apple. Across industry sectors, the following brands took the top spots among their competitors:

• Bank of America (banking)
• FedEx (transportation)
• IBM (professional services/consulting)
• Procter & Gamble (consumer packaged goods)
• General Electric (healthcare)

About the data: The February 2011 CMO Survey is a nationwide poll of chief marketing officers conducted twice each year by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in conjunction with the American Marketing Association. The survey collected responses from 421 respondents, Jan 11-28, 2011. Findings were used with permission from Christine Moorman.