Michael Stelzner and the team at Social Media Examiner recently released the…

2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

This report is packed with interesting insights and information based on over 3,000 marketing professionals survey responses. The report is global as marketers responded from all over the world. (At the bottom of the report we outline Survey Demographics).

The report is available at Social Media Examiner 2013 Social Media Marketing Report.  Below we outline a number of key takeaways and insights that we felt were of significant value to our community here.

86% of those surveyed say Social Media is important to their Business

This statistic continues to see growth as it is up 3% from 2012.

The short summary here is that social media is seeing great adoption and inroads into companies of all sizes as a valued part of their marketing plans.

 

 

 

 

53% of Marketers Surveyed have been using Social Media 2 or less years

This statistic means Social Media is still early on in business adoption and many businesses are only now beginning to really jump in and use this new marketing channel.  As well, as users in the survey showed more years of using social media, their reporting of positive impact and results grew.  This means social media marketing does have a learning curve to learn how to implement and how to achieve real ROI.

 

“My Facebook Marketing is Effective”

 37% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed, while 41% were uncertain.  TabSite aims to take away that uncertainty for our users by providing details on items such as amount of times a Deal was accessed and number of times a offer was downloaded.  These statistics and more coming in 2013 will help Tabsite users measure their ROI on Facebook marketing efforts.

See Case Study ROI by Photographer with Photo Contest

Case Example of Pet Store Using Tabsite to Grow Facebook Community

Most Important Social Platform for Marketers

When asked this question, marketers overwhelmingly stated that Facebook was the most important platform for them.  We don’t disagree.  Our aim is to assist those that know it is the most important to be able to clear up the ROI measurement questions they noted above.

It is also interesting to note the value placed on blogging and LinkedIn.  The rise of Content Marketing, offering valuable content that helps companies attract, be discovered, and ultimately sell to new customers is key to this value on blogging.

 

 Benefits of Social Media Marketing

Respondents to the survey noted that increased exposure and traffic were the top two benefits of social media marketing.  This is valuable because the more exposure and the more traffic a company can generate the more lead opportunities they have potential to close with a sale.  It is interesting to note that 43% of the group also noted that improved sales was a benefit of social media marketing while at the same time reducing marketing expenses.  This can often be attributed to the value of WOM, Word of Mouth, marketing where social participants help spread discovery, awareness and traffic for a brand.

The full report is very worthwhile to download and review.  Again, full access is available at Social Media Examiner 2013 Social Media Marketing Report.  A key takeaway is that Social Media Marketing is still in early adopter stage and many companies are simply just beginning or are early on in their use of this tool.  The report indicates there is traction, growth, adoption, and increasing ability to see ROI as use and experience with Social Media grows.

So dig in, press forward, continue to learn, experiment, measure, and test again!

 

Survey participant information

The largest group that took the survey work for small businesses of 2-10 employees (32%) followed by the self-employed (21%). Twenty-three percent of people taking the survey work for businesses with 100 or more employees. Slightly more than half (56%) of survey participants focus primarily on attracting consumers (B2C) and the other 44% primarily target businesses (B2B). Most participants (57%) were based in the United States, followed by United Kingdom (9%), Canada (7%) and Australia (5%).

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