marketers

the Association of National Advertisers along with B2B Magazine released results from a survey, which found that marketers are increasingly using social media platforms. No surprise there. What's more interesting is how they are using them. According to the results, about 66 percent of marketers utilized social media this year, up from just 20% in 2007. Half of those surveyed use viral videos, up from a quarter in 2007.

Marketers say they are seeing an increase in online brand attacks driven by the down economy, according to a study by the Chief Marketing Office Council. The study of 306 markets, sponsored by MarkMonitor, found that 29.5 percent of marketers are reporting a greater number of incidents of online brand fraud. Study respondents said brand value, trust, integrity and reputation are being significantly damaged because of gray market knock-offs, phishing attacks, cyber squatting, email scams, trademark abuse and copyright/patent infringements.

What do you get when you cross a video-game with social networking? Virtual worlds – and they're no joke, particularly with younger generations who are immersing themselves in increasing numbers.

A recent study from eROI shows that 18% of email marketers in the US are not tracking their campaigns. The research comes from a survey of over 500 email marketers with the intention of gaining insight into trends and use of analytics in email.

More marketers and advertisers will embrace online video in 2009, according to a new survey by PermissionTV.The survey found that online video will be a top priority for digital marketing budgets and also indicated a strong preference among marketers for increased interactivity in online video capabilities to help promote their brands.More than two-thirds of respondents (67%) identified online video as a main focus of their 2009 digital marketing campaigns, versus social media campaigns (41%), search (34%) and podcasts/webcasts (32%).

Nearly half  (47%) of all marketing budgets are now spent online according to a joint survey by Hearst Electronics Group and Goldstein Group Communications (GGC)."The sense of urgency to move to online marketing has been felt by leading marketing organizations for some time now, but the extent to which budgets have been re- defined is dramatic," said GGC President Joel Goldstein.

Some interesting data from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has been released. The data comes from 1,200 attendees of the ANA's "Master of Marketing" conference, which was held last month in Orlando. These attendees were polled via handheld electronic device about a variety of topics related to marketing, budgets, and future plans. Branding Through Social Networks

The majority (70%) of ad agency and media buying executives plan to increase budgets for viral video marketing in 2009, according to online marketing firm Feed Company.Even with the industry's support for viral video, the benchmark for viral video success remains unclear.