Bigmouthmedia and Econsultancy Unveil Social Media and Online PR Report 2010

EDINBURGH, Scotland, September 29, 2010 - Bigmouthmedia and Econsultancy's Social Media and Online PR Report 2010
has revealed that although investment is set to rise next year, Britain's
businesses are failing to make the cultural and budgetary commitments
required to maximise the channel's potential.

The research reveals that 73% of companies currently spend more resources
on social media than they did last year, with the vast majority expressing
confidence that budgets will increase again in 2011. However with 76% of the
companies surveyed admitting they didn't have an ROI figure for most of the
money invested in the channel and more than two thirds acknowledging a need
to improve their social media techniques, it seems clear that UK business'
use of the medium is far from perfect.

"While the sector has matured over the course of the last 12 months,
there is still massive room for improvement. Broadly speaking companies and
their agencies remain self-critical about their social media tactics, with
most acknowledging that they need to improve their approaches to the channel
across the board," said David Hardy, Group marketing director at
bigmouthmedia.

Now in its second year, the Social Media and Online PR Report shows that
despite 83% of companies expecting social media spending to increase over the
next year, the actual amount being spent remains very modest in real terms.
With more than 28% not spending anything on social media marketing and a
further 33% claiming to invest less than £5,000 a year, 29% of companies
report not having in-house staff dedicated to this discipline.

For many of those surveyed, this lack of investment is damaging. Around
half of responding companies (49%) say that lack of resources is a major
barrier to success, and 30% say lack of budget is a significant issue.

Another issue which has become apparent this year is the difficulty many
companies are having integrating activities relating to social media with
other parts of their business including sales, PR, CRM, product & services
development, human resources and customer services. Despite the proven
benefits of running integrated, cross platform campaigns, while the majority
of responding companies are now coordinating social media activity with email
marketing and search engine optimisation only 7% of companies integrate their
social media channel with their television advertising.

"Clearly businesses need to take a long hard look at their existing
corporate culture and think about how it can be evolved to incorporate the
benefits of social media, but there are encouraging signs that this process
is already underway. The report shows that with 41% of executive management
now more interested in social media issues than other marketing issues it has
captured leadership attention, and this will be a key factor in its continued
commercial development," added Hardy.

Econsultancy research director Linus Gregoriadis said: "2010 has been a
year in which companies have tried to become more focused in their social
media marketing activity. Much of their activity is concentrated on the use
of Twitter and Facebook, with the vast majority of companies (83% and 80% of
respondents respectively) using these sites as part of their social media
strategy.

"Companies are harnessing these sites for a range of business functions
including marketing, sales, customer service and product development and
newer areas such as location-based marketing and social gaming are now being
hyped in the media, although the data shows that very few companies have so
far actually become involved."

Both the Econsultancy report (
econsultancy.com/uk/reports/social-media-and-online-pr-report) and the
bigmouthmedia report (
www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/articles/social-media-survey-2010.asp) are
now available online.

About bigmouthmedia

Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest independent digital
marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in
10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands
online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels:
Search engine optimisation (
www.bigmouthmedia.com/products_services/search_engine_optimisation/),
PPC, Online Media Planning, affiliate marketing (
www.bigmouthmedia.com/products_services/affiliate-marketing/), Social
Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also
provides up to date daily digital marketing news (
www.bigmouthmedia.com/news_information/industry_news/) to ensure
clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

    bigmouthmedia PR contact

    Iain Bruce
    Media Strategist
    bigmouthmedia
    51 Timberbush
    Edinburgh
    EH6 6QH
    (+44)-131-555-4848
    @bigmouthmedia

bigmouthmedia PR contact: Iain Bruce, Media Strategist, bigmouthmedia, 51 Timberbush, Edinburgh, EH6 6QH, (+44)-131-555-484, at bigmouthmedia