I recently discovered the Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael A Stelzer. 880 business owners, employees and sole proprietors were surveyed in an attempt to uncover the who, what, where, when and why of Social Media Marketing. There are a lot of interesting findings in this report, however, I've pulled out just a few results that I believe would be the most valuable to SMBs. If you're interested in reading the entire report you can download it for FREE at: Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

Is your competition using Social Media Marketing?

• Business owners were more likely to use social media marketing than employees working for a business.
• The largest group just getting underway with social media marketing was sole proprietors.
• Small business owners were the most experienced, 29.3% reporting doing social media marketing for years.

What are the benefits to using social media marketing?

The top three benefits are:

1. Exposure of business
2. Increasing traffic
3. Building new business partnerships

An unexpected benefit was a rise in search engine rankings reported by more than half of participants. About one in two marketers found social media marketing generated qualified leads.

How does time invested influence results?

• 62% of marketers who have been using social media for years report it has helped them close business.
• Nearly all marketers spending 6+ hours a week on social media marketing found exceptionally positive results.
• At least 2 in 3 participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours a week invested in social media marketing. And those who have been doing it for years reported even better results.
• 62% of people who have only invested a few months in their social media marketing report new partnerships were gained.
• Owners of small business were more likely than others to report benefits.

What are the top social media tools?

The most common social media tools in order are:

1. Twitter
2. Blogs
3. LinkedIn
4. Facebook

If you're looking to get started with any of these here's some quick tips for social media marketing.

So what can we learn from this?

The takeway here is that your competition is using social media marketing and they're getting results. With as little as 6 hours a week you can expect to see an increase in traffic to your site, and in just a few months develop new business relationships. The longer you've been implementing social media marketing the greater the results, so the sooner you start the better.

What are your questions regarding social media marketing?