A new study has found that social media advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites was a top priority for 46% of US paid search advertisers.
The survey carried out by Covario also found that 36% of respondents comprising search marketers were planning to integrate search and social more often, according to eMarketer.
During a Search Marketing Now webinar in July 2011, Covario surveyed the 250 participants, most of whom were search practitioners from advertisers across the US.
The survey found that 56.9% of respondents said their companies manage paid social media programs in-house.
However, for those who do look to their agency partners to manage paid social media initiatives, the paid search agency is the most popular option, with 15% of respondents saying these agencies manage their social media advertising programs.
Social media programs are also still getting funds from search budgets, but more companies are creating independent budgets for paid social media programs.
The July survey found that 41.7% of respondents still drew social media budgets from search budgets, while 39.5% had an independent budget for social media programs.
