Mike Stelzner over at Social Media Examiner has published the 6th Annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report based on a survey of over 2,800 marketers.
It’s a pretty robust report at 50 pages and covers the gamut of social media marketing topics from the most important social platforms for marketing to the most important social content types to the ways marketers will be changing their approach to social media in the future.
Major Findings
Here's a quick summary of the reports primary findings:
- Marketers place very high value on social media - A significant 92% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business, up from 86% in 2013.
- Tactics and engagement are top areas marketers want to master - At least 89% of marketers want to know the most effective social tactics and the best ways to engage their audience with social media.
- 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.
- Marketers want to learn most about Google+ - While 54% of marketers are using Google+, 65% want to learn more about it and 61% plan on increasing Google+ activities in 2014.
- Podcasting on growth trajectory - Only 6% of marketers are involved with podcasting, yet 21% plan on increasing their podcasting activities in 2014—a more than three-fold increase—and 28% of marketers want to learn more about it.
- Facebook and LinkedIn are the two most important social networks for marketers - When forced to only select one platform, 54% of marketers selected Facebook, followed by LinkedIn at 17%.
- Most marketers aren't sure their Facebook marketing is effective - Only 34% of marketers (slightly more than one in three) think that their Facebook efforts are effective.
- Original written content is most important for social media marketing - A significant 58% of marketers stated that original written content is the single most important form of content, followed by original visual assets (19%).
Major Highlights
Some of the highlights of the report include:
- 92% of marketers say social media is important for their business (up from 86%)
- 58% of marketers say original written content is the most important form of content
- 68% of marketers plan on increasing their use of blogging
- 61% of marketers plan to increase Google+ activities in 2014
- 6% of marketers are podcasting and 21% plan to increase podcasting activity
- Facebook and LinkedIn are the two most important social networks for marketers
- 64% of marketers plan on increasing their use of LinkedIn
You really get a lot of details in this report on all major social networks and activities including Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Forums, Podcasting, Snapchat and categories like mobile, social review sites and social bookmarking.
SME also asked some great questions about time spent on social, measuring ROI, outsourcing, types of content, integration with other marketing tactics and what other forms of marketing that social media marketers were using.
Top Goals and Benefits of Social Media Marketing
The top benefits cited for social media marketing include top of funnel objectives like increased exposure (92%) and increased traffic (80%). While that is to be expected, what is interesting is that the more time marketers have been at social media marketing, the more social media helped them improve sales.
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The breakdown between B2B and B2C social platforms that were most important to marketers was interesting as always:
Top B2B Social Media Platforms:
- 33% LinkedIn
- 31% Facebook
- 16% Twitter
- 11% Blogging
- 3% Google+
- 3% YouTube
Top B2C Social Media Platforms
- 68% Facebook
- 10% Twitter
- 6% Blogging
- 6% LinkedIn
- 2% YouTube
- 2% Google+
- 2% Pinterest
- 1% Social Review Sites (Yelp)
The amount of importance placed on Facebook isn’t surprising given their popularity. I guess Marketers have resolved to accept Facebook as an advertising platform more than an organic social network.
Another interesting point is that only 11% of B2B marketers and 6% of B2C marketers find blogging most important while 68% say they plan on increasing their use of blogging in the coming year.
Recent UMass Dartmouth studies show the biggest increase in Fortune 500 companies blogging in their 2013 report so blogging is definitely a future area of focus. Marketers are optimistic about blogging, but I think shiny social network syndrome has them distracted from the true value blogging brings to social media success.
There’s a lot to digest and a lot of insights to be gleaned so be sure to get your copy of the report over at Social Media Examiner.
In the meantime, what are the primary benefits you are seeing from social media and networks? Are you integrating social across marketing and communications or is it treated more independently?
Courtesy of an article dated May 19, 2014 appearing in TopRank Online Marketing Blog
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