You are not alone to promote you business in social media, according to reports there are around 3800 marketers who use these social media for there business. These social media channels like facebook, twitter, Google+, linkedin etc.. Used to raise brand awareness, build communities and drive sales, and a full one third of these professionals invest 11 or more hours each and every week into their social marketing efforts.
According to reports 94% of marketers use social media to promote there business. In 2012 Around 83% of marketers said social media was important to their business where as in 2011 it was 62% .A significant 59% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more and 33% for 11 or more hours weekly. It’s interesting to note that nearly 15% of marketers spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.
There’s a direct relationship between the marketer’s age and time spent marketing with social media. The younger the marketer, the more time he or she spends on social media.
People aged 20 to 29 years spend more time than other age groups using social media marketing (with 43% spending 11+ hours weekly, up from 41% in 2011), followed by 30- to 39-year-olds (35% spending 11+ hours per week, down from 37% in 2011).
The main advantage of social media marketing is increasing publicity, exposure and traffic. A significant 85% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses. Increasing traffic was the second major benefit, with 69% reporting positive.
Marketers who have been using social media agreed that it has increased there sales. Even Small business owners with 2 or more employees were more likely to see improved sales from social media.
Those who invest the most time in social media marketing gain the most business partnerships. Of those with 3 years or more of experience, 72% saw new partnerships. However, 44% of people who’ve invested at least 6 months in social media marketing also report new partnerships were gained. Some of the Marketers who spent 1 year in social media where successful in building up the fans.
Facebook,Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube were the top six social media tools used by marketers, with Facebook leading the pack.Selfemployed and small business owners are likely to use blogs and linkedin.Large business were likely to use facebook,twitter and google+.For marketers Facebook have become number one choice then comes twitter,linkedin,youtube and blogs.
How will marketers change their future social media activities?
When marketers were asked how they will change their social media use in the near future. Survey-takers were asked to indicate whether they will increase, decrease, remain the same or not utilize various social media networks and tools. Marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube/video (76%), Facebook (72%), Twitter (69%), blogs (68%), Google+ (67%) and LinkedIn (66%) in that order.
When asked to marketers which social media tools they most want to learn more about. Google+ stormed into first place as the social network marketers most want to learn about, replacing Facebook as the leader from the 2011 report. Blogging was second and Facebook followed at a close third.
Social media outsourcing
When asked marketers if they were outsourcing any of their social media marketing efforts. The overwhelming majority said no. In 2011, the number of those who were outsourcing doubled since our 2010 report, from 14% to 28%. In 2012, the number increased slightly to 30%.Design and development, analytics and content creation are the top three areas that social media marketers are outsourcing.
