2008 is great for e-mail & seo says hrmarketer

HRmarketer has just released a must-read report for HR vendors entitled, “Trends in HR Marketing: Where HR Suppliers Spent their Marketing and PR Dollars in 2007 and What’s Ahead for 2008.”

Here’s a quick synopsis: E-mail rocks. SEO rules. Print down.

For a bit more analysis, however, the following image is a good summation of the past and future spending habits of HR suppliers.

Spending trends for HR vendors.

The top 5, in order are 1) e-mail (55%), 2) SEO / search engine optimization (54%), 3) Publishing original content (white papers, etc.) (53%), 4) Webinars (53%) and 5) Speaking at conferences (43%).

If done correctly, No. 3, “publishing content” should be part of a sound SEO strategy.

Other takeaways include:

* 80% of HR suppliers used e-mail in ‘07 and will repeat in ‘08.
* 12% who invested in print ads will not repeat in ‘08.
* Podcasting was the least used tactic in ‘07.
* SEO and Web 2.0 are the biggest challenges after “lead generation.”
* Only 12% of vendors are not participating in social networking.
* Top 3 networks: 1) LinkedIn (36%), Facebook (11%), MySpace (7%).
* Blogs have a way to go, with 45% of respondents rarely visiting.

You get the idea. Additionally, 88 percent of HR suppliers are some level of optimistic about the future. Interestingly, use of video was not a topic touched upon in the report. Maybe next year, as I believe it has value. Either way, if you make your living via human resources, you owe it to yourself to checkout the report.