More Than One-third of UK Marketers Have No Social Advertising Plans

Although more UK organisations are investing in social advertising, the market still lags far behind U.S. adoption rates.

 

A new survey* conducted on behalf of Eloqua, the leading provider of on-demand Revenue Performance Management solutions, found that while 66% of UK marketers have social advertising within their sights, the total still trails uptake in the U.S. According to the Pivot Conference and Brian Solis, a whopping 85% of U.S. marketers are either currently or planning to engage in social advertising over the next 12 months.

 

Skepticism of the value of social advertising seems to be a key factor influencing UK marketers’ decision-making, with Eloqua’s research finding that 37% of the marketers with no plans to engage stated that they were “unconvinced of its ROI.”

 

That U.S. marketers are embracing social advertising to a greater extent than their UK counterparts is surprising in the context of user engagement with social media in both markets. Data from Experian Hitwise found that on average, UK users’ individual Facebook session lasts longer than that of U.S. users (25.33 minutes versus 20.46 minutes).

 

Kath Pay, Co-Founder, Plan to Engage, commented: “The level of integration with other channels is a key factor in the adoption rate of social advertising in both markets. In the U.S., there is a greater tendency to integrate social advertising with other channels, such as email, whereas UK marketers are broadly favouring a siloed approach. By moving towards a more integrated model, marketers can increase the effectiveness of their campaigns and reap the benefits which the channel presents.”

 

Sylvia Jensen, Director of Marketing, Eloqua, commented: “While UK marketers’ level of engagement in social advertising is encouraging, the fact that UK users are spending more time than U.S. users engaging with social media indicates that marketers in this country are still missing a trick. With the Internet Advertising Bureau highlighting that 25% of Britons’ time online is spent on social media, it is vital that those marketers with no current plans to engage in social advertising recognise it as an important element of the marketing mix. Eloqua’sGrande Guide to Social Advertising can help marketers gain proficiency in the right platforms and techniques and enable them to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the ever-growing social media phenomenon.”

 

Research conducted by polling 100 marketing delegates attending ad:tech London in September 2011.

 

About Eloqua

Eloqua provides solutions to help its customers accelerate revenue growth through Revenue Performance Management. Eloqua provides powerful business insight to inform marketing and sales decisions today that drive revenue growth tomorrow. The company’s mission is to make its customers the fastest growing companies on Earth. More than 1,000 clients rely on the marketing automation power of Eloqua to improve demand generation and lead management while driving more qualified leads. Eloqua’s customers include Adobe, AON, Dow Jones, ADP, Fidelity, Polycom, and National Instruments. The company is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, with offices in Cambridge, San Francisco, Austin, Toronto, London, Brussels, Frankfurt and Singapore. For more information, visit www.eloqua.com, subscribe to the It’s All About Revenue blog, call 866-327-8764, or email demand@eloqua.com.

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