Have you thought of using social media marketing to:

• generate more exposure for your business?
• increase traffic to your website?
• provide valuable marketplace insights?

A recent survey conducted by Social Media Examiner looked at these and other aspects of social media marketing. [Read the full report]

Benefits

What do you consider the most important benefits of social media marketing?

This survey found that increased exposure and increased traffic ranked #1(85%) and #2(69%) respectively.

The next most significant benefits:

• provided marketplace insights (58%)
• generated leads (58%)
• improved search rankings (55%)
• grew business partnerships (51%)
• reduced marketing expenses (46%)
• improved sales (40%)

Time commitment

How much time should you devote to social media marketing?

This survey found that 59% of respondents are spending 6 hours or more weekly. The largest single group, representing 37.7%, spend 1 – 5 hours weekly.

Time commitment in relation to company size showed businesses with 2 – 10 employees typically spend 1 – 5 hours weekly. The same was true for the solo-owner businesses.

Social Media Tools

Is one social media tool more popular than another?

This survey found Facebook  and Twitter continued to lead the pack as the favored social media tools (92% and 82% respectively). Even when years of experience with social media were factored in, these two still outweighed the others.

How the other social media tools ranked:

• LinkedIn (73%)
• Blogs (61%)
• YouTube or other video (57%)
• Google+ (40%)
• Photo sharing sites (21%)
• Forums (19%)
• Social bookmarking/news sites (16%)
• Daily deals (6%)

Social Media Strategy

Do you have one?

The respondents to this survey most wanted to know:

• How to measure the effectiveness of social media marketing
• How to find their target audience with social media
• How to best engage their audience with social media
•  How to best maximize their social media results
• How to create a social media strategy
• What are the most effective social media tactics
• What are the best social media management tools
• How to use the different social media platforms
• How to select the right social media platform for their business

What does your social media game plan look like?