Website Magazine readers weighed in on their social media initiatives in January. We received a total of 186 responses. These are your business peers, and here is what we learned.
We see tremendous value in social media. A whopping 81.7 percent of respondents said they will spend more time on social media this year than last year. Just 3.8 percent will spend less time, indicating that Website Magazine readers see opportunity and are aggressively pursuing it.
We need to do a better job measuring success in social media. Just over half (58.6 percent) say they see a positive return on their social media investment. The remainder (41.4 percent) claim either they don't know if social media is providing a positive return, see no return or actually see a negative return. We can only assume this means the time commitment is too much. In short, our efforts need to be better quantified.
The biggest value our readers get from social media is increased website traffic (66.3 percent), followed by incoming links (36.5 percent) and better search engine placement (33.7 percent). Just 18 percent are selling more products using social media.
Overall, the least valuable social media site appears to be MySpace, no surprise there. However, considering the large percentage of B2C companies in the survey, it is surprising to see that Yelp is not providing more value. When we dig deeper, we found some interesting differences between social media usage of business-to-business (B2B) companies and business-to-consumer (B2C).
B2B companies find less value in Facebook (35.5 percent) than their B2C counterparts (47.5 percent) when asked if they "strongly agree" with the website's value to their company. Perhaps this is an indication that B2C companies are more adept with dealing directly with consumers, or that Facebook simply houses more of these companies' core audience. B2C companies also find more value in YouTube (34.8 percent 'strongly agree' vs. 23.9 percent) while B2B companies find more value in LinkedIn (39.2 percent 'strongly agree' vs. 21.6 percent). This information points to the critical importance of knowing your audience and choosing your network wisely.
We also received 149 type-in responses to "What is your primary goal using social media this year?" Find those responses on WebsiteMagazine.com.
Engage with prospective customers and add value
Increase website traffic and conversions
To reach out to more people that are interested in the information I provide
Gain more repeat business
WOM & Buzz
Connection, collaboration, network, marketing, sales
Get more business visibility
Establish myself as a leader in my field
build brand awareness and loyalty
Continue to grow awareness for our brand
peer contacts with the same interests
increase dialog and authentic personal relationships with customer base
Increase customer awareness, move the needle toward ubiquitous presence
Help customers with common business and personal interests to connect (and, of course, to draw new business in as well)
To obtain new customers for local retail store.
Connect with Non Profit organizations in Southern California
Better search engine placement
Big thanks to everyone who participated. We are delighted to know that our readers take Web success seriously and that they value the thoughts and opinions of their peers.