Looking at the CMO Survey: COVID-19 Edition
Credit: The CMO Survey
Developed to help predict the future of markets, track marketing excellence, and improve the value of marketing, the CMO Survey was founded in 2008 and is administered twice a year via internet survey. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the survey instead focused on how market spending, performance, jobs and leadership have been affected, in addition to what marketers can expect for next year.
According to the Special Edition survey, out of the 2,654 marketing professionals who were emailed to participate, 274 responded with 97% of respondents holding a VP-level position or higher. The survey was administered from May 5-27, 2020 and was later published in June.
Specifically, marketing professionals were questioned about macroeconomic forecasts, customer behavior, firm performance, marketing spending, marketing jobs, mobile and social media marketing, marketing management, marketing leadership and managing growth in uncertain times.
While it should come as no surprise that most marketers were less optimistic about the economy in comparison to last quarter, 95% of responders were more optimistic about their company. Additional results revealed that social media spending increased from 13.3% of marketing budgets in February of last year to 23.2% the following June. And with that, companies also witnessed a historic return on social media investments, rising 24% since February 2020.
However, on that same note, traditional advertising spending is projected to decline, with CMO predicting a 5.3% reduction through June 2021. With the shifting focus on digital platforms and marketing initiatives, the CMO further indicates that responders plan to use resources to develop customer-facing digital interfaces and transform traditional go-to-market models to focus on digital opportunities.
To view a full report of the survey results, click here.
So, what does this all mean exactly? Well, the Harvard Business Review has recently summed up 10 recommendations for social media strategies based on the survey’s findings and how you can adapt to the changing market:
Run formal experiments;
Play with new channels and features on existing platforms;
Integrate social media strategy into your overall marking strategy;
Invest in top social media talent;
Ensure agile social media management;
Harness the power of influencers and creators;
Carefully consider the right platform(s) for your brand;
Reduce friction between social media and e-commerce platforms;
Adapt your creative content to the times; and
Take care to select and onboard the right agency partners.
There is no doubt that while the pandemic is keeping us home and indoors, we are spending more time online, and ultimately, more time on social media. With that being said, making that connection with your customers is more important than ever - both existing and potentially new ones as well.
Now is certainly the time to adapt and prepare your business for some of the trends that may very well stick, even after the pandemic is over. For more information on social media marketing and management, check out our blog!
