Gartner research finds that CRM solutions, in the form of social media marketing, remain a high priority item for business CIOs in 2010.

Attracting and retaining new customers will be the number five priority for CIOs in 2010, according to the analyst group’s study from earlier this year.

Other arbitrary factoids from Gartner include:

• 90% of companies will maintain flat marketing budgets throughout 2010
• By the end of 2010, Facebook will be the number one social network in all but 25 countries
• CFOs demand increased accountability from marketing departments to link campaigns with direct sales results and a Return on Investment.
• More than 80% of social application market expansion in 2010 will be for business use, specifically for improved CRM (as opposed to improving internal collaboration)

The business hype around social media continues, but companies are still looking for actual numbers and statistics that support the profitability of dabbling in social networking. Gartner finds that social applications with a specific purpose between a business and customer are most likely to be beneficial, as opposed to generalized applications. Social application providers that transition from general to specific CRM support can see a substantial amount of growth by the end of 2010.

Chuck Schaeffer, CEO of Aplicor, a CRM and ERP solutions provider, was able to participate with Gartner analysts and hear these predictions before their official public release. He commented about Gartner’s findings on social media usage: “I think Gartner’s prediction that Facebook will be the number one social network in most countries is obvious. What’s less obvious is how B2B marketers can effectively extend their marketing reach to this network. Many CEOs ask, ‘Why do I want to be on Facebook?’ The answer is because that’s where a lot of your prospects and customers congregate.”

“Facebook has clearly evolved from a college community to a global community of every age and profile,” Schaeffer continued. “Once marketers get their executive teams past the point of recognizing they need to extend reach to social networks where their target market consume information, they can implement the strategies, plans, and messaging to engage those people.”

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