Marketers have been warned to take social media more seriously and enforce higher standards of planning, strategy, and evaluation, according to a study reported by MarketingWeek. The Warc 'Seriously Social' report  reviewed 800 award-winning campaigns and found that social campaigns were shorter, involved lower budgets, and were less likely to deliver quantified results. The authors of the report urged brands to adopt a 'social mindset', combining a clear brand idea with content that consumers want to share. They also encouraged marketers to demand proof of business value from their agencies or insight teams and spend money solving ROI questions around social media.

Social media has emerged as a unique communications channel and requires the same level of effort as traditional media. It's important that companies develop a clearly defined social strategy that is integrated with their overall marketing and business activities, rather than engaging on an ad-hoc basis. As with any element of a campaign, marketers must determine what the goals of their social strategy are, align their activities with those goals, measure the results of their efforts, and analyze the data to provide insights that can be used to further refine their strategy and maximize ROI.

Read the full article on the MarketingWeek website.