The eROI study surveyed 500 business-to-consumer and business-to-business companies. The majority cited lack of resources and education as the primary reasons why they are not putting more of a priority on mobile or social.

“Wide consumer use of social networking, mobile devices and email gives marketers the opportunity to provide their audience with a truly integrated experience using these media – and most organizations are not taking full advantage of that opportunity,” said Jeff Mills, vice president of products at eROI, Portland, OR. “Now is the time for marketers to start experimenting with social and mobile to determine what works best for their organizations.

“Companies must begin to adopt both social and mobile, and provide good user experiences and relevant content when doing so, or they risk the loss of market share,” he said.

The study points out that having a mobile Web site that offers a positive, relevant user experience is key. In fact, companies should have an established mobile Web presence before they eneter the over-crowded application market.

Nearly two thirds of marketers surveyed are incorporating social media with existing email marketing efforts. Lack of resources (32.5 percent) and knowledge (21.4 percent) is what is stopping those who do not.  

Although social media usage is on the rise among American consumers, 59.5 percent of organizations surveyed by eROI assign less than five hours per week to social-media-management-related tasks.

This proves social is still not a priority among marketing decision makers (in terms of time and resources).

While many marketers are tracking their social media marketing efforts, they may be tracking the wrong numbers, the study finds.

The majority of respondents (65.5 percent) track increase/decrease in friends and followers; 59.5 percent measure traffic and 39 percent measure mentions.

But only 35.7 percent track new leads and even fewer (28.5 percent) are actually tracking sales tied to social media efforts. 

Surprisingly, despite this lack of resources and time, nearly three quarters of respondents said that social media efforts are having a positive impact on their marketing efforts.

When it came to mobile, a key finding was that although 91 percent of the population uses mobile devices (23 percent use smartphones), less than one-third of marketers surveyed are currently putting much value or importance on the channel.

“We recommend that marketers begin to build a business case for the adoption of both social and mobile integration into their strategies,” Mr. Mills said. “With lack of resources and education cited as the top reasons why both social and mobile do not have a significant priority in most current marketing plans, investment in these two areas is critical.

“We encourage marketers to work with their organizations to determine what metrics their social and mobile campaigns should be judged on and ask that resources be allocated to support their growth – similar to what is often done for research and development,” he said.
 
“Companies should start small and experiment with different ways to integrate mobile and social media. They must determine what approaches generate the best results for them and decide what to further invest in.”

Final Take