Highlights from the 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

Social media marketing is constantly evolving. Most businesses are using social media in their marketing efforts and the push to utilize social continues to grow. Lucky for us, Social Media Examiner founder Michael Stelzner puts together a comprehensive social media marketing report every year highlighting new trends in the industry.

The study surveyed more than 5,000 marketers with the goal of understanding how they’re using social media to grow and promote their businesses. Look over the key findings from the 8th annual study below and download the full 56-page report for detailed insights into how marketers are using social media.

Major Findings by Social Media Examiner

1) Social media marketing difficulty: If you feel like social media marketing is getting harder, you’re not alone! Forty percent of marketers agreed that social media marketing has become more difficult in the last 12 months.

2) Weekly time commitment for social media marketing: A significant 63% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more and 39% for 11 or more hours weekly.

3) The benefits of social media marketing: A significant 89% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses. Increasing traffic was the second major benefit, with 75% reporting positive results.

4) Just 6 hours a week can increase exposure for your business: With as little as 6 hours per week, the vast majority of marketers (92%+) indicated their social media efforts increased exposure for their businesses.

5) Social media marketing helps gain loyal fans: Of those who have been using social media for at least 1 year, 63% found it useful for building a loyal fan base.

6) The usual players are still the most popular: More than half of marketers (55%) chose Facebook as their most important platform, followed by LinkedIn (18%), Twitter (12%), and then YouTube (4%).

7) Social media marketers are looking to make changes in the future: Marketers plan on increasing their use of Facebook (67%), YouTube (63%), Twitter (61%), and LinkedIn (61%), in that order. A significant 74% said they have no plans to utilize Snapchat. Seventy-five percent have no plans to use Vine.

8) Facebook ads rule: The overwhelming majority use Facebook ads (87%), followed by Google ads (39%) and Twitter ads (18%).

9) Visuals are the most popular types of content: A large percentage (74%) use visual assets in their social media marketing, up from 71% in 2015. Close behind were blogging (68%) and video (60%).

10) Marketers want to learn more about video and how to do it live: Marketers want to learn more about video (66%), blogging (65%), and visuals (65%), with half wanting to learn more about live video (50%).

Download the full report to explore 90 fascinating charts conveying their surprising findings. Learn the benefits of social media, how marketers respond to new social networks, and how bloggers are republishing their content.

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