Most marketers agree that social media provides business value and helps increase brand awareness, according to a fall 2011 survey of 700 marketers worldwide by social media marketing software company Wildfire Interactive–88% agreed with that statement. Other social media business benefits include engagement (85%), an increase in sales or partnerships (58%) and reduced costs (41%).
When it comes to measuring ROI, the largest percentage (38%) measure interactions with consumers: the number of fans or followers, likes, comments, etc. One in four tracks increases in revenue, and 15% track increases in brand awareness from social media marketing activities.
Of those that did not have a strict ROI measurement in place–measuring the increased value against the cost of the investment–100% still believe that social media delivers business benefits.
Most marketers (94%) still rank Facebook as a top channel, followed by Twitter (74%), blogs (41%) and LinkedIn (32%). Google Plus was not yet on the radar at the time this survey was fielded. Why do marketers value Facebook fans? 44% said the reason was new customer recruitment; 18% suggested that Facebook fans have higher conversion rates and make more frequent purchases.
See more stats from this study in this Wildfire infographic.
How close are you to being able to track a return on investment from social media?
