Though most company decision-makers view social media as essential to their business, most also say they have not made money from it: 54.2% of marketers and business professionals surveyed say social media is "innovative and invaluable to their business," but 64.5% say their companies have not increased revenue or profited from using social media, according to a survey from R2integrated.

Meanwhile, over one-third of marketing and business professionals (37.0%) say social media is useful and helpful, but they could live without it:

 

One-half of marketing and business professionals (50%) say their companies have a defined social media strategy. 

Below, other findings from the Social Media Study by R2integrated, which surveyed 262 marketing and business professionals from a diverse range of industries about their perceptions of social media.

Over six in ten marketing and business professionals (60.1%) cite lead generation as their primary reason for using social media. Some 26.9% say they use it to monitor conversations about their brand, and 5.1% say they use it because their competitors do.

Unclear ROI Impedes Social Media Strategies

Among the major impediments to implementing their social media strategy, 35.8% of marketing and business professionals cite the lack of data and analysis to develop ROI, followed by 22.6% who cite getting senior management buy-in.

Another 21.01% don't think their audience is active on social media.
Most marketing and business professionals (41.6%) say their companies are still learning how to use social media, while 33.2% say their companies are now proficient, 11.1% say they are experts, and 10.7% say they are behind the curve.

Only 11.8% of marketing and business professionals now use an outside agency to help with social media marketing. Most (48.5%) say social media should be handled internally. However, 39.7% say they would trust a digital agency to conduct social media outreach but do not use an agency for that purpose.

Nearly six in ten marketing professionals (57.3%) work in companies with a dedicated social media manager.

Profitability Linked to Strategy, Headcount, Education

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