One third of marketing teams have admitted to having no more than a limited understanding of social media, despite two-thirds actively investing in it.

Meanwhile, one third also lack the know-how to use new media tools in their marketing programmes, according to a poll of members of the US-based Chief Marketing Officer Council.

The need for industry professionals to get to grips with these new communications channels is underlined by Carat, the media planning and buying agency. It forecasts that although global advertising expenditure will fall 5.8% this year, social media will be one of the few sectors where agencies are increasing headcount.

Recent months have seen a flurry of acquisitions in this space on both sides of the Atlantic. British based agency Creston, US-based MPG, and LBi, a digital agency, all established social media units in March of this year.