Yesterday I sat in on a great HubSpot webinar (with Michael Stelzner) that reviewed a report released today by Social Media Examiner. The report was based on extensive research and surveying about concerns and usage of social media in 2011. You can access the entire report here. I highly recommend it.
If you don’t have time to read the report or sit in on the archived webinar, here’s a summary of the high-level research.
Some quick key takaways:
- 73% of businesses plan to increase their use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging in 2011
- Small businesses are investing heavily in social media
- 90% of marketers believe social media is important to their organization
- Half of marketers have less than one year of social media experience
- B2B (52.6%) companies have been using social media longer than B2C (46.2%)
- 56% of marketers are using social media for at least 6 hours a week (34% for 11 hours+)
- 62% of marketers use social media to increase search rankings
- 72% of marketers that have use social media for at least 3 years reported that it helped close business (i.e., it takes time for social media to impact bottom line)
- With 6 hours a week, 52% of marketers saw an increase in lead gen via social media (more effective with SMB)
- Currently on 28% of marketers outsource social media activities, but that number is expected to grow dramatically in 2011
What are currently the 3 most common questions about social media and their implications:
What are some other key research points:
