A study was recently conducted by TWI Surveys, Inc. on behalf of the Society for New Communications Research that explored current awareness and knowledge of social media, as well as prioritization of social media. The study used a survey method amongst a sample of 260 senior PR and marcomm professionals.

According to SNCR:

1. 70% are currently spending 2.5% or less of their communications budgets on conversational marketing
2. Two-thirds plan to increase their investment in conversation within the next twelve months
3. 57% project that in five years they will be spending more on conversational marketing than traditional marketing
4. 23.8% believe that spending on conversational marketing will be the same as traditional marketing in five years
5. 81% of all respondents project that by 2012 they will spend at least as much on conversational marketing as traditional marketing

On a side note, leading with that last statistic is pretty shrewd. The title of the release and blog posting starts with “Spending on Conversational Marketing to Outpace Traditional Marketing by 2012.” Who in their right mind isn’t going to be lured in by that?

The findings also cited several barriers to entry that social media must navigate as it continues to become entrenched within mainstream PR and marketing strategies, including:

1. Resource limitations
2. Fear or loss of control
3. Inadequate metrics
4. Cultural issues
5. Difficulty with internal sell-through

In my opinion, limitations #2, #4, and #5 are all essentially the same. As social media continues to embed itself into our everyday lives, the culture will inevitably change. Current senior-level managers will become more comfortable signing their names to budgets that contains social media components, and the mid-level managers who are immersed in social media start will start moving into senior-level management positions.

Of the other two barriers, I believe that the metrics issue is going to be the first to fall. Two participants at this past week’s PRSA expo, Radian6 and Relevant Noise, seem particularly well poised to address this issue.

I would say that the issue of resource limitations is still up in the air to a great extent. To a certain degree, this is a matter of perception. For example, fifteen years ago, people may have thought they didn’t have enough the resources to use the Internet and now it is inconceivable to consider professional life without it. In a similar vein, it may very well be that in about five years it will be inconceivable to think about life without more social forms of media like blogging or social networking.

At the same time, I believe there is a clear opportunity for both players to come to market with the core benefit proposition of helping people save time engaging with social media.

Stay tuned…