In an Industry Report conducted by Social media Examiner, the world’s largest online social media magazine, the following key findings have been found about social media and marketing, and the importance placed on it by various businesses in the Unites States;
1. Marketers still place high value on social media: A significant 92% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business.
2. Tactics and engagement are top areas marketers want to master: 89% of all social media marketers want to know how to measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media and engage users.
3. Blogging holds the top spot for future plans: A significant 68% of marketers plan on increasing their use of blogging, making it the top area marketers will invest in for 2014.
4. Marketers seek to learn more about Google+: While 54% of marketers are using Google+, 65% of marketers want to learn more about it and 61% plan on increasing Google+ activities.
5. Top three benefits of social media marketing: The number-one benefit of social media marketing is generating more business exposure (reported 85% of marketers), followed by increasing traffic (69%) and providing marketplace insight (65%).
6. Top two social media networks/tools for marketers: Facebook and LinkedIn.
7. Most marketers aren’t sure if there Facebook marketing is effective. In fact, only 1 in 3 believe that their efforts are effective.
These figures have been taken directly from the Social media Industry Report 2012.
Based on these key findings projected from 2,800 marketers in the US, it is quite clear that this space is very important in progressing businesses into the new age. As explained earlier though, it is important to remember that social media is most effective when collaborated within Marketing campaigns (with TV and radio in a campaign, for example) and overall business strategy.