Do you ever wonder what
tactics, tools and strategies other social media marketers are using?
Regardless of how long
you’ve been involved in social media, chances are you have some questions that
you’d like answered.
Questions such as, “What
are the best social management tools?” or “What are the best ways to engage my
audience with social media?”
These and many more
questions were answered in the 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry
Report, which surveyed over 3000 marketers with the goal of
understanding how they use social media to grow and promote their businesses.
Here are some interesting
findings from the survey:
#1: Marketers Want Most to
Learn About Blogging
When asked what social
media platform they wanted most to master, 62% of marketers said blogging,
putting it in first place slightly ahead of Google+. This answer is consistent
with other studies, which show
that the appetite for blogging education is growing.
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| Blogging takes first place as the social media platform most marketers want to learn about. |
An important trend to
consider is that 28% of marketers now have mobile-optimized blogs. This is
highly significant when you consider that the number of smartphone subscribers
in the world has broken the 1 billion mark.
Blogging takes first place
as the social media platform most marketers want to learn about.
Key Consideration:
The power of blogging to reach
huge audiences and prospective customers cannot be underestimated. If you
want your voice to be heard on the social web, you need to have a blog.
If you’ve just started
blogging for business, focus on consistently giving your audience helpful
advice that solves their problems. If you’re not 100% sure what kind of
content to offer, survey your customers and ask them to tell you. Asking your
customers not only gives you valuable insights about what they find useful, but
can help to promote your blog as well.
Here are more tips about blogging for business.
#2: Blogging Highly Valued
by the Pros
Most marketers (49%)
selected Facebook as the single most important social platform for their
business, followed by LinkedIn (16%), blogging (14%) and then Twitter (12%).
But for the Pros (marketers with three or more years of social media
experience), blogging jumped to second place!
Similarly, a recent Technorati report on
Digital Influence also indicated that 86% of influential marketers blog
consistently, and a majority of them do not produce much content outside of
their blogs.
 | ||
| Blogging plays a more important role for experienced marketers, compared to less-experienced marketers. |
Key Consideration:
Consumers are looking for
“trusted digital friends” to give them advice on what to buy and where to go.
Experienced marketers know that offering valuable advice on their blogs
generates trust and influences consumers’ buying decisions. If you produce
compelling articles and useful advice on your blog, you’ll become a trusted
source of information, and people will start to spend more time there,
eventually becoming your customers.
#3: Podcasting Finally
Growing Up
Marketers were asked to
indicate how they plan to change their social media use in the near future.
While only 5% are currently using podcasting, a significant 24% plan on
getting involved this year. That’s a nearly five-fold increase!
The report shares three
reasons why interest in podcasting is growing: Apple’s introduction of a
dedicated podcasting mobile app, smartphone subscriptions topping the 1 billion
mark, and major car manufacturers such as BMW and Ford starting to integrate
podcasting technology into new cars.
 |
| Up from 5% to 24%—the numbers show that interest in podcasting is growing rapidly. |
Key Consideration:
Marketing expert Seth Godin says it’s not a
good idea to try to sell anything to a stranger. It’s true. But when the right
people connect with your voice through podcasting, they gradually become
engaged and start to pay attention.
Pat Flynn often says that
other than meeting face-to-face, podcasting is probably the best way to interact
with your prospects. So if you’ve been thinking about breaking into
podcasting, here are the technicalities of
setting up, as well as some tips for building a successful podcast
with a loyal audience.
#4: Only 1 in 4 Marketers
Able to Measure Social Media ROI
When asked to rate their
agreement with the following statement, “I am able to measure the return on
investment for my social media activities,” only 26% of marketers agreed!
What’s interesting about this survey is that social media is clearly a core
strategy for businesses, yet measuring it remains a mystery.
 |
| Measuring social media continues to be a challenge for marketers, as only 26% are able to do so. |
Key Consideration:
Research shows that for
many businesses, measuring social media ROI is still too basic—focusing on
likes, followers and mentions.
During Social Media
Marketing World 2013, Nicole Kelly, author of How to Measure Social Media,
said business executives and funders of social media campaigns are looking for
real business metrics such as sales, revenue and costs. The challenge for
marketers is to learn to speak their language by showing how social media
fits into the sales funnel and how it impacts the bottom line. Here’s a
great piece from Nicole that explains how to measure social media.
#5: Two-Thirds of Marketers
Uncertain About Facebook Marketing Effectiveness
Perhaps the most surprising
finding in this study was that most marketers don’t really believe in Facebook!
Sure they use it, but they don’t really think it is effective. Only 37% agreed
with the statement “My Facebook marketing is effective.” Specifically, 44% of
B2C marketers agreed with this statement, while only 29% of B2B marketers
concurred.
 |
| Only 37% of marketers agree that their Facebook marketing efforts have been effective. |
Key Consideration:
Make no mistake, Facebook
IS an effective marketing platform and there are numerous case studies to prove this.
It’s possible that some marketers who participated in this survey hadn’t
actually tracked their Facebook marketing campaigns and were uncertain about
their own efforts.
However, research also indicates
that Facebook seems to work better for B2C than B2B. If you have a B2B
brand, don’t be discouraged. Here’s some advice from Marketo, a
B2B company that has been very successful on Facebook.
Other Significant Findings
 |
| Other findings from the research. Image source: iStockPhoto. |
Tactics and engagement are
top challenges for marketers.
When asked what top social
media challenges they are facing today, marketers said that tactics and
engagement strategies were at the top of the list. No matter what kind of
company you have or what products you sell, you can improve engagement with
your audience on any platform including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and
LinkedIn. Here are some great tips to improve engagement.
Increased exposure and
traffic top benefits of social media marketing.
A significant majority
(89%) of marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated
more exposure for their businesses, while 75% said that increased website
traffic was the second major benefit. Social media is essentially a
word-of-mouth tool. It’s where friends discover and share interesting ideas,
including the ones on your site! Here are some tips to drive traffic to
your site using social media.
More time spent on social
media equals greater benefits.
If you’ve ever wondered
whether more time invested in social media produces better results, the answer
is “yes.” According to the survey, with as little as six hours per week, 92% of
marketers indicated their social media efforts increased exposure for their
businesses. More than half of marketers who spent 11 hours or more per week saw
improved sales. Do you think you could put a little more time into social
media marketing every week?
Fascinating differences
between B2B and B2C.
As expected, Facebook
dominated among B2C brands, though it was interesting to see LinkedIn and
Facebook tie for first place among B2B brands. Only 5% of B2C marketers said
LinkedIn played an important role for them. Twitter and blogging are also
valuable platforms for B2B marketers. Another surprise was that B2B
marketers showed zero interest in Pinterest.
 |
| Which platforms play the most important role for B2B and B2C marketers? |
Your Turn
What do you think? How does
your own experience compare to these findings? Please share your comments
in the box below.
Image from iStockPhoto.
