Emarketer have published today the findings from a study by the Aberdeen Group looking into ROI within social media marketing.

The study found that 63% of the companies within the survey (defined as best-in-class) are planning to up their social media marketing budget for 2009.

The research also discovered that 39% of the companies surveyed said it was somewhat difficult to measure social media and 20% said it was very difficult. This highlights an interesting point in that even at a time when digital budgets are being scrutinised companies are still considering increasing  investment in a medium that’s hard to quantify.  I feel this underlines the importance and value that companies now put on social media, plus and most importantly how social media stands alone as platform within the digital media space.

Experian’s ‘Engaging Online with the Empowered Customer’ report has shown that in 2008 fashion retail sites saw a 31% growth in traffic . Alongside only a 1% growth in traditional catalogue adoption, the research demonstrated the shift by consumers to a more digital focus when researching for fashion.

The report demonstrated that although growth in traffic had been exceptional, fashion retailers did not capitalise on repeat purchasing, with 45% of customers making just one purchase. The report also showed that just under a third of customers made up almost 70% of the revenue, customers that should be identified and encouraged to make more frequent visits.

Experian felt that retailers and home-shopping companies were not achieving customer expectations of multi-channel. It called on them to ‘blend’ online and offline activities to offer customers a better experience and encourage repeat purchases.

“Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the exploitation and application of existing data assets,” said Marie Myles, director of marketing for Experian’s integrated marketing division. “The enhanced insight derived from this approach and the move to a coordinated customer contact strategy will lead to more profitable and longer relationships between brands and consumers.”

Adidas have shown that they understand that the savy consumer researches fashion before making a purchase, in this current economical climate all purchasing is becoming more and more considered. Their new look book is very slick and with the occasional play of ‘ beggin’ from their TV ad blends the offline with the online very well.

A study by Ad-ology Research has shown that 25% of small businesses have forecast that they will increase their spending on social networks for 2009, a higher percentage than any other marketing format.

A third of small businesses have said that they will keep spending on social networks, whereas only 5% have said that they will drop their spend from ‘08. This predicted growth could be explained due to the ability to target by registration data. With social networks offering truly granular levels of targeting, justification for spend is easier, especially with marketing budgets in 2009 being scrutinised tightly.

It will be interesting to see which formats make up this 25% increase, standard display advertising or integrated solutions? Research has shown that user’s behaviour within a social network is not endemic of that which will react to display advertising. So will we see the share of display budgets increase on social networks due to ease of justification?