For those of you who may not have seen the results of the 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, I have pulled out the main findings. Social Media Examiner is my go-to source for all developments in the social media space. This is the 8th annual study carried out by Social Media Examiner. This study uncovers insights from over 5000 marketers. Most participants were between the ages of 30 and 59. The gender split was 57% female and 43% male.
Main Findings
1. Video has become essential. 60% of marketers use video in their marketing and 73% plan on increasing their use of video.
2. Live Video is hot. 50% of marketers plan on using live video services such as Facebook Live and Periscope, and 50% want to learn more about live video.
3. Facebook and YouTube hold the top spot for future plans. At least 63% of marketers are planning on increasing their use of these social networks.
4. Snapchat. 5% of marketers are using Snapchat currently but 16% plan on increasing their Snapchat activities and 28% of Marketers want to learn more about Snapchat. See latest news today on Snapchat Snapchat 'files for stock market float'
5. Facebook is the most important social networkfor marketers by a long shot. When asked to select their most important platform, 55% chose Facebook, followed by LinkedIn at 18%. 67% plan on increasing their Facebook marketing activities.
6. 40% of marketers don’t know if Facebook traffic has declined in the last 12 months and 35% aren’t sure if their Facebook marketing is effective.
7. Facebook Ads. 86% of social marketers regularly use Facebook ads, while only 18% use Twitter ads.
8. Tactics and Engagement.These are the top areas marketers want to master. 90% of marketers want to know the most effective social tactics and the best ways to engage their audience with social media.
Other significant information from the research shows
- 90% of marketers said that social media is important to their businesses.
- 41% said they were able to measure their social activities.
- 63% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more and 39% for 11 or more hours weekly, 19% spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.
- For people just beginning with social media, 54% spend 5 or fewer hours per week.
- The two top benefits of social media marketing are increasing exposure and increasing traffic.
- 68% of marketers are using social media to develop loyal fans and gain marketplace intelligence (66%).
- Over 50% of marketers who have been using social media for at least 2 years report it helped them improve sales.
- With spending as little as 6 hours per week over 92% indicated their social media efforts increased exposure for their businesses.
- Over 88% who have been using social media marketing for a year or longer report it generates exposure for their business.
- Over 50% of marketers who have invested at least 2 years in social media marketing reported that new partnerships were gained.
- With as little as 6 hours per week, 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits with social media.
- Improved search engine rankings were most prevalent among those who’ve been using social media for 1 year or longer, with 54% reporting a rise.
- Over 79% of participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing.
- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google +, Instagram and Pinterest were the top 7 platforms used by marketers.
- Marketers plan to increase their use of videos, visuals, blogging, live video and podcasting in that order.
If you would like to go deeper into the report where there are over 90 charts to examine click here for the full report.
