Top Questions Faced by Social Media Marketers [Research]

Do you wonder how fellow marketers and businesses are using social media?

Wondering if you should focus more on ads or bots?

Social media has also become a routine marketing tactic for nearly every business, helping brands build awareness, share and interact with customers and prospects, and create another vital touch point in the changing customer journey.

But as the social media landscape continues to evolve, both green and seasoned marketing professionals are constantly searching for answers on how they can best leverage social media within their organizations’ marketing strategies.

Like any marketing tactic, brands and marketers want to understand the business case and benefits of social media marketing. After all, social media marketing takes time, resources and strategy to be successful—so you want to make sure you’re aligning your efforts with your business needs and goals.

We’re going to dive into some current research report conducted by Social Media Examiner.

What is the impact of social media marketing on business?

Top questions faced by social media marketers

This can be summarized with the following keywords:
• Tactics
• Engagement
• Paid
• Measurement
• Tools
• Strategy
• Audience

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EXPERIENCE

According to current research Seventy-two percent of marketers surveyed have at least 2 years of social media marketing experience.

It’s interesting to note that those new to social media marketing are less successful with fan development. We live in a noisy world, and those that have been producing quality content for years have a better market presence then someone just starting out.

The big question…How will people catch up?

BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

A significant 87% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses. Increased traffic was the second major benefit, with 78% reporting positive results. These top two benefits have remained virtually unchanged for 4 years.

For the first time in 4 years, the order of the lesser benefits has changed. Also, many of the benefits have declined:
• Generated leads dropped to 64% from 66% in 2017
• Developed loyal fans dropped to 63% from 69% in 2017
• Provided marketplace insight dropped to 54% from 66% in 2017
• Improved sales increased to 53% from 52% in 2017
• Grew business partnerships dropped to 49% from 53% in 2017
• Increased thought leadership dropped to 46% from 57% in 2017

COMMONLY USED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were the top three platforms used by marketers, with Facebook leading the pack by a long shot. Other platforms lag behind these top three.

NOTABLE CHANGES SINCE 2017
• Instagram jumped from the #4 slot to the #2 slot, up from 54% in 2017.
• Twitter lost the #2 slot, falling from 68% in 2017.
• YouTube moved up from 45% in 2017.
• Pinterest dropped from 30% in 2017.
• Snapchat barely rose from 7% in 2017.

Platform use: Beginners vs. advanced marketers

This chart compares social platform choices of those just getting started with social media marketing (the blue bars: less than 12 months) compared to those with the most experience (the green bars: more than 5 years).
New social media marketers mostly focus on Facebook (88%) and Instagram (55%). The most experienced marketers are highly diversified.

Platform use: B2C marketers

This chart shows that nearly all business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers are focused on Facebook.

Platform use: B2B marketers

This chart shows that most business-to-business (B2B) marketers use Facebook and a significant percentage use LinkedIn. This is clearly different than the study by the Content Marketing Institute which shows clear and away LinkedIn to be the #1 platform for B2B, Twitter #2 and Facebook #3.

Which is correct?

Possibly the main difference is in who they are surveying. Social Media Examiner Report surveyed people all over the world, with only 50% of them being in the United States.

ORGANIC SOCIAL MEDIA POSTING

I wrote about Facebook organic reach declining last year because I saw it happening especially with my clients. It became obvious that was part of Facebook’s strategy to drive more Facebook Ads.

Remember the good old days when you had 100 fans and you posted your upcoming Saturday event and all 100 saw it?

Today maybe 2 out of 100 see it! WOW…what a change.

That might explain why Social Media Examiner is now holding Facebook Ads summit.

Let’s not kid ourselves…Facebook has shareholders to answer to, and it’s about profits.

Current Facebook activities

A significant 50% of marketers have increased their organic activities on Facebook over the last
12 months.

Only 18% of marketers have decreased their organic activities.

My question is why?

Quality over quantity seems to be the current tactic in social media marketing. No longer are businesses going after new fans, but driving actual results is the metric.

I’ve mentioned all along that you must tie your social media activities to goals and objectives of your business. Failure to do so…well leads to failure as a strategy.

Just having someone post to post in an information overload world, is an exercise in futility.

Future Facebook plans

Current research shows a significant 62% of marketers plan on increasing their Facebook organic activities over the next year.

As shown earlier, Facebook is still the most important social network to most marketers.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With nearly every brand using social—as well as frequent tweaks to platform algorithms—the competition to stand out in news feeds has never been more fierce, with brands fighting for visibility and engagement.

As a result, more are paying to play these days by investing in social advertising to drive awareness and engagement, as well as sales and other conversions—and this trend will definitely continue.

About Blair

Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.

Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.

Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.

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