Marketing budget conditions have improved for the 5th consecutive month, details Warc [pdf] in its latest Global Marketing Index. The budget component of the index improved to a reading of 54.3 this month from 52.9 in April. Rather than following last year’s pattern of diminished enthusiasm between April and May, this month’s index rose to [...]

Some consumers are noticing brands’ attempts to promote their social presences in advertising, with some media channels more likely to elicit a response than others, according to [pdf] results from a Burst Media survey of more than 2,500 US online adults. Respondents reported being most likely to notice brand-related social accounts in online banner ads [...]

Online teens’ use of social networking sites appears to have leveled out, but more are turning to Twitter, according to [pdf] results from a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. In 2012, 81% of online teens (aged 12-17) surveyed reported using a social networking sites, relatively flat from 80% [...]

The top benefits of social media marketing are increased exposure (89%) and increased traffic (75%), finds Social Media Examiner in its annual “Social Media Marketing Industry Report” [download page], which surveyed more than 3,000 marketers on their social media activities. A majority also report benefits such as developing loyal fans (65%), lead generation (61%), and [...]

For all the research and attention paid to showrooming, webrooming (doing research online and then buying in-store) is actually a far more popular activity among Millennials (aged 18-35) across several product categories, according to [pdf] survey results from the Urban Land Institute. For electronics items (computers, tablets, cellphones, TV/audio equipment, etc.), 50% of respondents prefer [...]