Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) and email marketing are still seen as more valuable than social media for brand building and increasing sales leads, says a survey of over 100 marketers (internetretailing.net).

The ‘Digital Disciplines’ report shows that only 21pc of people surveyed rate social media as ‘very effective’ for brand building, and only 17pc rating it as ‘very effective for driving sales leads.

In contrast, SEO (32%), PPC (28%) and email marketing (22%) are seen as ‘very effective’ for brand building with PPC (33%), SEO (28%) and email marketing (21%) rated as most ‘effective’ for driving sales.

However, this has not stopped the increasingly widespread popularity of using social networks as a marketing communications technique. An impressive 94pc of organisations use social networks as part of their digital marketing strategy, and 63pc claim to use social media for brand building.

Among the most prevalent social networks are Facebook and LinkedIn, over half of respondents stated their organisation had presence on at least one if not both. Twitter follows closely behind with 54pc of companies regularly tweeting.

Meanwhile new research reveals brands are losing opportunities to create engaged buyers through email.

Email marketing services provider has carried out a marketing benchmark study covering the four largest ecommerce markets in Europe: the UK, Germany, France and Italy. It reveals how 80 of the largest European e-commerce retailers have very extensive consumer email registration.