It’s no secret that social media marketing is big business these days and practically essential for many companies to survive. What many people might not appreciate is the important role social media marketing management companies play. Destination CRM has a great article up right now that reviews a Wave report by Forrester Research. In it, they cover the 7 best social media marketing vendors and, in doing so, they highlight the unique nature of this important form of marketing.
The Numbers Behind Social Media Marketing
According to the report, which was compiled by an analyst named Zachary Reiss-Davis, Facebook and Twitter make 85% of their revenue through ads. And every indication points to marketers only spending more in the future. For the study, Reiss-Davis spoke to a number of venders, and the average amount they spent per month on social media ads was $512,000.
Interestingly, most people have found that the tools offered by social network sites to assist with marketing are sorely lacking. As such, a new industry has grown to bridge the gap. There are now countless companies that specialize in helping businesses get the most out of their social media marketing.
The Top Social Media Marketing Management Companies
The aforementioned report analyzed a number of these and came up with the top 7. In order to even be considered for the list, each company had to have social media options independent of other services. Their platform had to accommodate self-service. Their customers had to be enterprises instead of individuals, and those enterprises had to spend at least $50 million a year on social media advertising.
Let’s take a look at some of the top companies now.
The Top Social Media Marketing Management Companies
In first place, according to Reiss-Davis, was Kenshoo. The company didn’t start out in the world of social media. Kenshoo’s origins are with search marketing. This was also the case for another top performer, Marin. Another top performer, SalesForce.com, still doesn’t describe itself as a social media marketing management company. On the other hand, many of the runner-ups—those that didn’t make the top 7—are startups that were begun specifically to manage social media marketing for other companies.
Kenshoo took top honors due to customer feedback. They won positive praise for their ability to combine their original expertise, search marketing, with social media advertising. Their analytics and reporting were also very beneficial. Interestingly, Reiss-Davis mentions that, of the runner-ups, five of them excelled in at least one area above Kenshoo. This goes to show the diversity that exists in social media marketing management options.
Regarding companies that didn’t make the list, Reiss-Davis believes they’d be best served by establishing their own, unique approach to marketing on social networks. With so many companies vying for business, too many are simply failing to stand out. Many would be better served by narrowing their offerings to things like automation or CRM integration.
While there’s no debating the relevance that social media has in the world of business, the above report shows that there’s still a long way to go when it comes to marketing. Most companies would do well to outsource their marketing to a company that specializes in social media. But, at the moment, that’s a pretty diverse field with only a few obvious standouts.
Source:
http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/CRM-Featured-News/Forrester-Releases-Wave-Report-on-Social-Media-Marketing-93951.aspx
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