How small to medium size businesses are using social media in 2015

Do you want to know how small to medium size businesses are using social media in 2015? Then read on these highlights from Social Media Examiner Social Media Marketing Industry Report 2015.

First off, what are the most important questions and challenges marketers face in 2015.

1. Tactics: What social tactics are most effective?

2. Engagement: What are the best ways to engage my audiences with social media?

3. Measurement: How do I measure the return on my social media marketing? Only 42% agreed they are able to measure their social activities – a challenging area for marketers but one that seems to have improved over the years.

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4. Audience: How do I find my target audience with social media?

5. Tools: What are the best social media management tools?

Sound familiar? Read on the findings from the survey.

Participation and Importance

96% of marketers indicated they are participating in social media marketing with whooping 92% stating that social media is important to their businesses.

Measurements

Although only 42% of marketers state they know how to measure their social media marketing, a much higher number 72% actually analyze their activities. With regards to the largest social media network, Facebook, 45% of marketers feel their efforts there are working. Majority of marketers, either don’t know or think their Facebook efforts are not working.

Integrated Marketing

Personally, I’m very pleased to see that 84% of marketers say they have integrated their social media activities with their traditional marketing. I hope this doesn’t mean putting their social media logos on their print advertisements.

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Time Commitment

I know this one is a biggie for most people. Where do you find the time to spend on social media. A significant 64% of marketers stated they are using social media for 6 hours or more with 41% using it for 11 or more hours weekly. Although it’s not necessary a full time job, it can certainly be a huge time suck and you need to plan accordingly for it. If you don’t have time to dedicate to social media, your options are to delegate or hire more people.

There is also a reverse relationship between experience and how much time marketers spend on social media. The less experienced marketers spend less time. Age is a factor as well with the younger marketers spending more time on social media. I’m not sure if we just get sucked into the social media vortex, prove to the CEO that social media is actually worth it, avoid other projects for social media sake or some other reason for this.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

The biggest benefit of social media marketing continues to be increased exposure, followed by website traffic, developing loyal fans, provided marketplace insight and generated leads. Another benefit from social media marketing is reduced marketing expenses. For marketers using social media for a year or more, improved search engine rankings is another positive effect.

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Commonly used social media networks

Facebook of course continues to be in the lead, followed by Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram. Based on the type of business you are in, Business to Consumer (B2C) or Business to Business (B2B), the top platforms will vary. The fact remains that the most important social network for marketers is still Facebook.

Image credit: Social Media Examiner

Future Trends

Most marketers want to spend more time and increase their activities on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube while decreasing their efforts on Facebook. Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest are also on marketers’ radar for increased time and effort. 82% of marketers have no plans to use Snapchat in 2015.

When it comes to content, marketers plan to increase their use of visuals (73%), videos (72%), blogging (69%) and podcasting (26%).

Social Media Ads

Facebook ads seems to be leading the way again, following by Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. I’m not sure if Google ads belongs in the social media ads category but Social Media Examiner included a question about it. See below how marketers plan to change their social media paid ad activities.