Marketers are diverting marketing budgets away from direct marketing and into social media, according to research by Alterian. We’ve been saying this for a while but now these new statistics can back us up.

In a survey of more than 1,000 marketers from around the world, Alterian found that 66% will be investing in social media marketing activity over the next year and 40% will be using their direct marketing budget to do so.

The 40% said they’d be cutting their direct marketing budget by more that a fifth to pay for their social media activities and 51% of those surveyed will be moving away from a direct marketing centred model completely.

David Eldridge, Alterian chief executive, said: "Untargeted and irrelevant marketing techniques are now redundant and the results of this survey show many in the industry recognise this."

The rise in the number of marketers turning to social media is reflective of a maturing market and a growing understanding of the role social networking can play in a successful marketing campaign.