2012 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INDUSTRY REPORT: HOW MARKETERS ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO GROW THEIR BUSINESS

Social media isn't easy.

There's always a new platform you should sign up for, or a new feature you need to learn about. And everyday you're reminded of just how far behind you are.

But here's the good news.

By simply addressing a few mistakes with your social media strategy, you can improve your results and finally catch your breath.

Here are 3 social media mistakes you don't know you're making.

1. Not Asking the Right Questions

People always want to know "how many Tweets per day should they send" or "what day should I schedule my blog posts?

But these questions are usually pointless. Social media can't save your brand.

Today, your product and service is your marketing. That means:

• If you're providing a product, then make it the most innovative, unique and easy-to-use product in your space.
• If you're providing a service, then make go above and beyond expectations to deliver the best possible customer experience.
• If you're writing a blog post, then make it the best, most actionable or information-packed post possible.

Instead of worrying about your Klout score, start thinking about your Net Promoter Score.

How likely is it that you would recommend [Company X] to a friend or colleague?Customers respond on a 0-to-10 point rating scale and are categorized as follows:

• Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth.
• Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.
• Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.

To calculate your company's Net Promoter Score (NPS), take the percentage of customers who are Promoters and subtract the percentage who are Detractors.

Red Bull and Oprah both have a huge social media presence because they're the best in their business... not because they Tweet 15x per day or started using Pinterset last month.

2. Lacking Focus

When the late (great) Steve Jobs first came back to Apple in 1997, he had a lot of work to do. The following excerpt is from MSNBC: 

One of Jobs' first goals as CEO was to review the company's sprawling product line. What he found out was that Apple had been producing multiple versions of the same product to satisfy requests from retailers.

For instance, the company was selling a dozen varied versions of the Macintosh computer. Unable to explain why so many products were necessary, Jobs asked his team of top managers, "Which ones do I tell my friends to buy?"

When he didn't get a simple answer, Jobs got to work reducing the number of Apple products by 70 percent. Among the casualties was the Newton digital personal assistant. Unfortunately, the cut-backs also resulted, in part, in a workforce reduction of about 3,000 employees.

"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do," Jobs says in the book. "It's true for companies, and it's true for products.

People and companies are struggling with the same problems today when it comes to social media.

There's too many opportunities, too many new features, and too many new shiny tactics to try.

But here's the problem. Unless you're in the Fortune 500, you're probably short of (1) time, (2) energy, or (3) money.

If you want to stand out, then you need to be exceptional. So instead of spreading yourself too thin, focus everything on one major platform or social network. How do you decide?

• Where are your customers predominately?
• What activities will give you the highest marketing ROI?

Maybe that means you hire a blog writer and focus mainly on content creation and email marketing. 

Or perhaps Pinterest for your business is a waste of time, so you can ignore it.

Or there's the possibility that Google+ is essential for your business because you rely on SEO heavily.

Either way, the point is that if you can answer these two questions and act accordingly, then your marketing results will double in no time.

3. Having Realistic Expectations

Marketing guru Seth Godin says that one of the biggest mistakes marketers (and companies) make, is being "impatient".

But what does that mean? Who can be patient when there's bills to pay and competition coming after you?

When Seth said marketers need to be patient, he meant that if you want to make a sale next week, you can't start marketing today. You should have started three years ago.

You can't throw a Hail Mary pass in the last minute of the game and expect to win the game. Marketing and sales only work if people trust you. And that process takes time. In the simplest terms possible, there are two ways to market online.

1. Use advertising to "rent" attention.
2. Use inbound marketing to "earn" attention.

But guess what? Both are going to cost you something.

If you don't have the time or energy, then you need to spend money on advertising.

If you don't have money to invest, then you need to spend time and energy in creating content, building relationships, and learning a basic SEO strategy.

You won't have hundreds of visits each day when you launch a new website.  Traffic won't just fall out of the sky.

You need to You need to understand how to get traffic that will convert into loyal subscribers. And you then need to pick the right online marketing channels for your unique business, and work them consistently, every single day.

Because mastering these techniques is what separates the amateurs from the pros.

And at the end of the day, you'll feel more relaxed and have results to show from it.

COMMENTARY:   The Social Media Examiner recently published their 4th Annual Social Media Marketing Industry report. Each year they interview marketers about how they are using social media to grow and promote their businesses.

For the 2012 report, they interviewed over 3,800 marketers to determine:

• The top 10 social media questions marketers want answered
• The time commitment
• The benefits of social media marketing
• Commonly used social media services
• Social media sites people want to learn more out
• How B2B vs. B2C companies use social media
• How marketers are using other forms of marketing
• Outsourcing of social media management

 

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

One section of the report that I found most interesting was the benefits of social media section. The top 5 benefits of social media marketing that marketers have seen are:

1. Increased exposure
2. Increased traffic
3. Provided marketplace insight
4. Generated leads
5. Developed loyal fans

Below is a graph from the annual report that shows the percent of marketers who have seen specific benefits from using social media marketing.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing (Click Image To Enlarge)

An interesting change from the 2011 to 2012 report is the percent of marketers who said social media marketing helped to improve search rankings. In 2011 62% of the marketers interviewed said that their search rankings improved, but only 55% of the marketers interviewed in this year’s report saw a benefit.   I found this change very interesting since I have experienced improvements in search rankings using social media campaigns in the past. After examining the report further, it appears that those who saw improved search rankings were investing more than 10 hours a week in social media, have at least 3 years experience, or are selling to other businesses (B2B companies). There appears to be a direct correlation between the amount of time invested and experience on search ranking. However, industry is a large factor, as only 50% of businesses who sell to consumers saw a significant increase in their search rankings.

Benefits of Social Media Takeaways:

• B2B companies are more likely to grow business partnerships using social media than B2C companies.
• Spending 6 hours or more a week on social media shows a significant increase in lead generation.
• Small business are more likely to see an increase in lead generation than large companies.
• Those with 3 and more years experience managing social media see a significant increase in all the measured benefits compared to those with less experience.
• Over a third of all mid-sized and large companies have not seen a reduction in their marketing expenses. This is very interesting, I wonder if social media is seen as an additional marketing effort not a replacement for other marketing at this time.
  
• A not surprising find, social media is great for generating site traffic. 74% of marketers saw increases in site traffic when investing minimum 6 hours a week in social media.
• B2B companies use social media for gaining marketplace insight much more than B2C companies.
• B2C companies have a much larger increase in their loyal fan base when using social media than B2B companies.
• There is a direct correlation between amount of time invested in social media and acquiring loyal fans. More Time Invested = Increase in Loyal Fans

Check out the full 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry report on the Social Media Examiner site.

According to the 4th Annual Social Media Marketing Industry report, you MUST be prepared to spend time and resources into social media in order to generate measurable benefits. If your goal is to generate increased website traffic, sales leads and brand loyalty businesses MUST be prepared to invest a MINIMUM of 6 hours per week in social media marketing activities.   This takes time and effort and money.   You cannot go about your social media activities haphazardly or lackadaisily.   According to the report, Companies that have been using social media for 3 years or longer, generated the most measured benefits. 

Courtesy of an article dated June 25, 2012 appearing in Social Media Today and an article dated April 10, 2012 appearing in the Social Media Examiner

Comments

[Lisa Chaves]

Well social media is often comparatively inexpensive and provides access to a vast global community. However, it's always necessary to consider budget expense when deciding to promote and campaign.

[improve web site traffic]

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[Cavrta]

Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.

[Alaska iPhone Game Developer]

Majority of major firms are quite busy have a much larger increase in their loyal fan base when using social media than B2B companies.

Cheers