What is your social media plan for the rest of the year? Will you be focusing on blogging? Facebook? LinkedIn? Paid advertising? This infographic from Ciceron based on Social Media Examiner’s 2014 Social Media marketing Industry Report lays out what should be in your social media plan plus the burning questions that marketers want answered. Based on the survey, almost 100% of marketers believe social media is important for their business and will participate in it. Further 83% agree they had integrated their social media and traditional marketing – a definite big leap forward for B2B social media, in my view. If you are not utilizing social media in your campaigns or if it is not in your plan for the rest of the year, does this statistic make you change your mind?
The top benefits of social marketing are:
(1) Increased exposure
(2) Increased traffic
(3) Developed loyal fans
(4) Generated leads
In terms of the actual tactics planned:
- 61% plan to increase their Google+ activities
- 21% plan to increase their podcasting activities
- 54% selected Facebook when forced to select only one social platform
- 34% think that their Facebook marketing efforts are effective
In my view, I am not certain that Facebook is the best answer, especially given that engagement and growth have become so dependent on paid advertising within the platform. It is also interesting that Twitter was not mentioned even though in other studies we have seen Twitter tends to be one of the top platforms preferred by marketers. Is the tide changing?
Content continues to be king with 58% stating that original written content is the single most important form of content. 37% state they are able to measure their social activities which is always a big challenge for marketers.
What is perhaps the most interesting about this infographic are the questions that marketers want answered:
(1) What social tactics are most effective?
(2) What are the best ways to engage with my audience on social media?
(3) how do I measure the return on my social media marketing?
(4) What are the best social management tools?
(5) How do I find my audience with social media?
What is your top social media question that you want answered? Please share below in the comments.
