The largest group that took the survey work for small businesses of 2-10 employees (37 per cent), followed by self- employed (23 per cent); 17 per cent of people taking the survey work for businesses with 100 or more employees.

More than half (61 per cent) of survey participants focus primarily on attracting consumers (B2C) the balance primarily targeting businesses (B2B).

Marketers are confused about social media, but keen to learn

Marketers globally are still trying to get their heads around social media generally, with tactics, engagement, measurement, audience and tools uppermost in their minds.

According to Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Marketing Industry Report 2015, between 87 per cent and 92 per cent of marketers surveyed felt they were struggling to answer the following questions:

The report identifies a correlation between how long marketers have been using social media and their weekly time commitment – for people just beginning with social media (less than 12 months’ experience), 49 per cent spend five or fewer hours per week; this compares to those who have been doing it 2+ years – at least 68 per cent of them spend six hours or more per week on social media activities.

Brand exposure and increased web traffic are seen as the two most significant benefits of being on social media, with 90 per cent of marketers indicating their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses while 77 per cent reported a lift in traffic to their website.

A solid percentage of respondents (69 per cent) said using social media helped them “develop loyal fans” while a similar number (68 per cent) felt listening to social media was useful in providing “marketplace insight”.

But if we look at the graph below, there’s no doubt that having an active social media presence can benefit businesses in a number of ways.

Aah yes, but does social media improve sales?

Well … yes, and no.

More than half of marketers who have been using social media for at least two years claim it has helped them grow sales, while 73 per cent of those who spend 40+ hours per week earn new business through their efforts.

These statistics, of course, indicate you need to be persistent if you want to see sales growth from using social media –  you need to put in the time, if not over the long haul (2+ years), then at least on a day-to-day, week-by-week basis.

HOWEVER …

There’s a flipside, with 49 per cent of marketers taking this survey indicating that social media has not helped them improve sales.

Of course, there could be any number of reasons for this – the report suggests perhaps they may lack the needed tools to track sales and that’s a fair call, but I’m tipping another reason is because they’re using social platforms in ways that could be considered ‘traditional marketing’ i.e. broadcasting too many self-centred one-way messages.

If being discovered via search engines is important for your business, then the next stat will be of interest! According to the report, improved search engine rankings were most prevalent among those who have been using social media for one year or longer, with a whopping 54 per cent of respondents reporting a rise.

Most popular social platforms

Okay, this is where it gets interesting.

Facebook at the top is a given as the top platform used by business, but Twitter at number 2 (79 per cent) is a bit of a surprise when we compare to the Australian Sensis figures (where it still ranked #2 after Facebook but at a paltry 17 per cent for small business, 38 per cent medium-sized business, and 46 per cent for large businesses – an average of 33 per cent across the three sizes of business, which is half of the global figure).

Globally, LinkedIn ranks third most popular, Google+ fourth – the same rankings as in Australia – but again there is a significant disparity in terms of penetration locally versus globally:

• LinkedIn  – global (71 per cent) vs Australia (24 per cent averaged out across small/medium/large businesses).
• Google+ – global (56 per cent) vs Australia (11 per cent). 

And the single most important social platform according to marketers is…

Social Media Examiner asked marketers to select the single most important social platform for their business. According to the report, because only one choice was allowed, the findings are revealing.

Facebook comes out on top (yawn) with 52 per cent – but not as high as you’d imagine, actually, followed by:

• LinkedIn (21 per cent)
• Twitter (12 per cent)
• YouTube and Google+ (4 per cent each)

 However, when B2C is compared to B2B …

• B2C – 65 per cent of marketers selected Facebook as their number one choice (compared to Twitter at 10 per cent and LinkedIn 9 per cent);
• B2B – 41 per cent of marketers selected LinkedIn as their number one choice (compared to Facebook at 30 per cent and Twitter 19 per cent).

And finally, where are marketers going to increase their efforts in the “near future”?

• A majority of marketers (66 per cent) indicated they will be increasing their activities on Twitter.
• Ditto YouTube, also at 66 per cent.
• Ditto again (66 per cent, how weird is that?) plan to increase their activity on LinkedIn.

Facebook comes next at 62 per cent followed by Instagram and Google+ (both 52 per cent) and Pinterest (51 per cent).

Basically, a good number of marketers are going to increase their activity pretty much across the board – does this mean they’re taking a shotgun approach to the key social media platforms?

Interesting times ahead!

DOWNLOAD THE SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER INDUSTRY REPORT HERE.