Report: Social media marketing goes mainstream

Social media has gone mainstream and “nearly every business on the planet is exploring social media marketing initiatives.” So says Michael A. Stelzner

This study surveyed over 3300 marketers with the goal of understanding how marketers are using social media to grow and promote their businesses.

A summary of the report’s primary findings:
• Marketers place high value on social media: A significant 90% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business.
• Measurement and integration are top areas marketers want to master: Onethird of all social media marketers want to know how to monitor and measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media and integrate their social media activities.
• Social media marketing takes a lot of time: The majority of marketers (58%) are using social media for 6 hours or more each week, and more than a third (34%) invest 11 or more hours weekly.
• Video marketing on the rise: A significant 77% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube and video marketing, making it the top area marketers will invest in for 2011.
• Marketers seek to learn more about Facebook and blogging: 70% of marketers want to learn more about Facebook and 69% want to learn more about blogging.
• The top benefits of social media marketing: The number-one advantage of social media marketing (by a long shot) is generating more business exposure, as indicated by 88% of marketers. Increased traffic (72%) and improved search rankings (62%) were also major advantages.
• The top social media tools: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs were the top four social media tools used by marketers, in that order. Facebook has eclipsed Twitter to take the top spot since our 2010 study.
• Social media outsourcing underutilized: Only 28% of businesses are outsourcing some portion of their social media marketing.