WebProNews

The recession might have some people wandering through children's sandboxes with metal detectors, but it hasn't made marketers leery of social media.  Instead, more than half of the marketers who responded to a Forrester Research study intend to increase their social media efforts if the recession continues.

Forrester and Jeremiah Owyang found that, out of 114 marketers, roughly 60 (or 53 percent) will spend more in this area if the recession drags on for another six months.  About 48 people (or 42 percent of the sample) will keep their habits unchanged.  Only 6 folks (or 5 percent of the group) plan to cut back.

That's pretty impressive, especially since Owyang pointed out, "During a recession, marketers are often forced to reduce budgets, in fact, it's often one of the first buckets to get trimmed."

 

So what gives with the social media love?  Owyang called social media marketing inexpensive and believes "the opportunity to benefit from cost-effective word-of-mouth" is "promising."

As for where everyone's money is likely to go, a second survey found that marketers are interested in social networking, blogging, user-generated content, and online video.

Owyang summed up his findings by titling the Forrester report "Social Media Playtime Is Over."