A new survey by PRWeek/Manning Selvage & Lee among 279 US chief marketing officers, VPs of marketing and marketing directors and managers showed that only 12 percent of senior marketers say that consumer generated media (CGM) – a genre that includes activities like online social networking, YouTube, text messaging and consumer generated advertising – is very important to their marketing platforms.
When asked which marketing disciplines they are currently using, or would consider using in the next year, the most popular response was traditional online activities (82%), such as building web sites. Targeting influentials and media relations, both considered traditional public relations activities, came in second and third (70% and 65%). But CGM ranked almost last (43%), a surprising statistic given the rapid increase in consumer participation, particularly with the very populations marketers try to reach, on sites such as FaceBook and YouTube.
What is keeping marketers from letting consumers take more control? When asked why their companies were not engaging in CGM, 32 percent said there is no clear ROI, and 6 percent said they don’t want consumers that close to their businesses. But when coupled with their other responses about CGM, a possible interpretation of these results is that there is an underlying lack of understanding of what CGM and new media techniques are available, and how they can be used to build brands.
Originally posted on June 21, 2007 @ 12:20 pm