Social Media Advertisers still rely on Search for Budgets.

As social media becomes an integral part of companies’ marketing programs, the debate continues about where the staff and resources will come from to handle these initiatives.

During a Search Marketing Now webinar in July 2011, Covario surveyed the 250 participants, most of whom were search practitioners from advertisers across the US. The survey found that 56.9% of respondents said their companies manage paid social media programs in-house, which falls in line with the knowledge that SMN webinar participants are often from smaller companies that don’t have the budgets to hire outside agencies and therefore do most social media work internally.

However, for those who do look to their agency partners to manage paid social media initiatives, the paid search agency is the most popular option, with 15% of respondents saying these agencies manage their social media advertising programs.

Covario often analyzes the connections between social media and search marketing, and in late 2010, the company surveyed search marketers about their plans for social media marketing and SEO in 2011. That study found that 36% of respondents were planning to integrate search and social more often, and that social media advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn and the like was a top priority for 46% of US paid search advertisers.

Social media programs are also still getting funds from search budgets, but more companies are creating independent budgets for paid social media programs. The July survey found that 41.7% of respondents still drew social media budgets from search budgets, while 39.5% had an independent budget for social media programs.

At the beginning of August, Google announced it will re-introduce its real-time search, leveraging information from its new Google+ social network. The search engine discontinued that real-time access after failing to come to an agreement with Twitter in July. As search and social continue to influence each other, this integration of the two within companies’ marketing plans will be solidified.

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