Business Transition from Social Media Tactics to ROI
Businesses are maturing in the realm of social media, according to Social Media Examiner. Last year, the top question about social media concerned tactics – this year, it concerns return on investment.
In 2009, the top social media question marketers had was related to tactics, but this year the top question was: “How do I measure social media return on investment?”
Here’s the list of the top 10 questions in Social Media Examiner’s “2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report”:
1. How do I measure social media return on investment?
2. What are the social media marketing best practices?
3. How do I best manage my time with social media?
4. How do I reach my target markets with social media?
5. How do I generate traffic and leads using social media?
6. How do I implement social media tactics?
7. What are the latest social media trends?
8. How do I get started?
9. How do I integrate my social media activities?
10. How do I evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each platform?
“One in three marketers indicated results and identifying the best practices were their top questions when marketing with social media,” the report notes.
Ninety-one percent of respondents said they use social media for marketing purposes, while just 9 percent said they didn’t.
In terms of experience, 43 percent said they have “been doing this for a few months,” 31 percent said they have “been doing this for a few years,” 3 percent said they have “no experience, but plan to use social media,” 22 percent said they’re “just getting started,” and a negligible number of respondents said they have “no experience and do not plan to use social media.”
The survey found that B2B companies have been using social media longer than B2C companies.
Social Media Examiner also found that 56 percent of marketers are using social media for six hours or more each week, while 30 percent use it for 11 or more hours each week. Meanwhile, 12.5 percent spend more than 20 hours each week utilizing social media for marketing purposes.
The median weekly time commitment to social media for those who are just beginning is one hour per week, while it surges to 10 hours per week for those who have used social media for a few months or longer.
Those between the ages of 20-29 spend the most time using social media marketing, according to the survey.
Social media’s biggest benefit so far is generating exposure for businesses, which was the response of choice for 85 percent of respondents, followed by increases in traffic/subscribers/opt-in list with 63 percent and resulting new business partnerships with 56 percent.
Twitter (88 percent) was the most popular social media tool, followed by Facebook (87 percent), LinkedIn (78 percent) and blogs (70 percent). The report notes that in 2009, Facebook was fourth while blogs were the second most used social media tool.
Respondents indicated that they want to learn more about social bookmarking sites, followed by Twitter, Facebook, sites like Digg, and LinkedIn.
Sources:</strong
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-industry-report-2010/
