Is the spend on social media really worth it? Probably not. But it is a lot of fun.

A while back I blogged about the marketing pundit, Mark Ritson, who gave a very funny and inciteful presentation about why social media is mostly a waste of time for marketers.

So it was with interest that I read that spending on social media is expected to climb (in the US) to 21% of marketing budgets in the next five years, compared to about 6% in 2009, yet only 3% of marketing leaders report that social media contributes very highly to their organisation's performance, with 40% reporting a below average contribution.

It is worth having a scan of the findings. 

Whenever, I write anything negative about social media I am impelled to insert the caveat that I use it a great deal and find it very useful etc etc. Without this I feel that I appear as a miserable old sod who hates 'new fangled' technology.

It is obvious as the sun in the sky that older users of digital do not have the same intensity of engagement with social media as their children and grandchildren. I do hope that is a given?

But what Ritson and this new research shows is that even amongst younger consumers, social media is not delivering the return. What young marketer is going to put their hand up and say that?

So no doubt more money will be spent on social media stuff whilst consumers, especially older ones, will pay little or no attention. But hey, it is a lot fun for the marketers. Dick Stroud