New research released today by Edelman and the Marketing Institute of Ireland has shown that 70% of Irish marketers plan to increase the percentage of their marketing budget given to social media in 2016.  51% of those surveyed highlighted Facebook as the single most important social platform for their business (up from 36% in 2015) with LinkedIn and Twitter neck and neck on 22% and 21% respectively. The research was unveiled ahead of DMX Dublin, Ireland’s largest digital marketing conference which takes place at the Aviva Stadium on 9th March.

Social Media Platforms

Twitter remains the platform most likely to see an increase in activity, whilst Snapchat and Instagram see the biggest percentage change from 2015 results. Given Facebook’s already dominant position, it continues to perform exceptionally well with 60% saying they’ll increase their activity in 2016.

Social Media Influencers

The Irish marketing community was also very supportive of the new advertising regulations around the use of social media influencers. 75% of research participants appearing to endorse a recent announcement by the Advertising Standards Authority’s intent to crackdown on influencers who do not declare paid posts. 37% of marketers surveyed said that they had used a digital influencer in their brand activity, with 24% of this group paying them for their involvement.  Use of social influencers in marketing campaigns is set to increase in 2016, with 52% of survey participants indicating that they would increase their use of prominent bloggers, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter users. 54% of respondents believe that online influencers can play a credible or very credible role but 25% are worried about the ethics of using online influencers to promote a brand or product.

View Full 2016 Survey Results Here:

Social Media Crisis

11% of respondents had experienced a social media crisis in the last year, with 20% feeling unprepared to deal with it.  Despite the increasing amount of online issues, 82% of Irish marketers surveyed had not undertaken any social media crisis simulation in the last year and 40% don’t have any social media guidelines for employees.

Video & Real-Time

The importance of video was again underlined by the fact that 97% of Irish marketing professionals intend to increase its use in their marketing plans in 2016. Real time marketing also fairs well with 60% currently undertaking some form of real-time social media activities.

Paid Social

When it comes to use of paid ad support of social media, 70% of those surveyed expect to increase their spend in 2016 with Facebook (91% up from 70% in 2015) leading the way in terms of paid social regularly used, followed by Twitter (44% up from 42% in 2015), LinkedIn (28% down from 34% in 2015) and Instagram (16%).

Measurement

It appears Measurement has improved in the last year with 60% of Irish marketing professionals reporting that they are able to measure ROI of social media, up from 48% in 2015. However 57% haven’t set KPI’s for 2016 (up from 45% in 2015). When looking at effectiveness Facebook (60% up from 56% in 2015) and Twitter (60% down from 67% in 2015) perform relatively well.

Speaking ahead of the conference Darragh Rea, Director at Edelman, said “We’re delighted to continue our long term partnership with the Marketing Institute of Ireland both with our sponsorship of DMX and also the launch of our second annual Social Media Survey. This research sheds yet more light on a rapidly evolving integrated marketing landscape, and reflects some of the key trends we’ve seen over the past year. At a macro level the shift in budgets from traditional to online, shows no signs of abating, with marketing professionals continuing to explore new channels and invest more in content that travels across platforms. This is complimented by the continued rise of the social media influencer and the launch of new Live Streaming products and algorithms which reflect the rapid growth of video and real time marketing. It’s encouraging to see an improvement in measuring ROI since last year although the results show that there is still some work to do in the area of crisis preparedness and simulation.

Tom Trainor, chief executive of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, the professional body which owns and operates DMX, said: “This is the second year of our social media survey with Edelman and again it has raised some important questions for Irish marketers. The Marketing Institute would encourage all Irish marketers to continually assess and improve their marketing activities and social media and its efficacy is growing ever more important. This research in addition to the sharing, learning and networking at DMX today will give Irish marketers some invaluable food for though and insights to improve their marketing.”