Social Media Marketing Resources

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Social media has become an important marketing tool for small businesses, particularly younger firms: 32% of small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) in operation for 0-6 years use Twitter, compared with just 7% of those in business for 11+ years, according to a report from BIA/Kelsey. Meanwhile, Twitter use among SMBs doubled, from 9% in 2009 to 19% in 2010.

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Though natural search engine results drive the most website traffic, online consumers are increasingly using emerging channels to navigate to websites, with social media having the greatest influence on younger generations, according to a report by Forrester.

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Consumers are frustrated with online registration: When required to register or create an account at a website, only 25% do so, whereas 75% leave the site; 66% say social sign-in would be a good alternative, according to a new study by Janrain.

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Driven primarily by Facebook, social networking is the fastest-growing mobile content category in the US: Nearly 58 million mobile subscribers accessed a social networking site at least monthly via mobile device as of December 2010, up 56% from the previous year, according to a report by comScore.

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eBay clinched the No. 1 spot among the top 50 ranking of social brands, for most effectively and consistently engaging customers via social media channels, according to Alterian's inaugural Social Media Reputation (SMR) Index. Apple was second on the list, followed by Google, BlackBerry, and Amazon.

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Driven by changes in consumer behavior and competitive forces, 80% of marketers say they plan to increase the volume of digital projects in 2011, with much of those investments focused on corporate websites and social technologies, according to a survey from AnswerLab.

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Social media still trails traditional marketing channels such as email in driving traffic to retail websites; however, customers who visit top retail sites because of a social media interaction are highly likely to purchase, according to a study by Foresee Results.

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Visitors age 35-54 comprised 35.4% of Facebook's user base in December 2010, down 3.6 percentage points from a year earlier, while Facebook's share of its youngest users (under age 18) and oldest users (age 55+) made the year's biggest gains, according to comScore.

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More than four in five consumers say they have "broken up" with at least one brand on Facebook, Twitter, or email because of irrelevant, too frequent, or boring marketing messages, according to a study by ExactTarget and CoTweet.

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Millennials depend on social networking sites more than any other age group for personal connections and self-expression—but Gen-X adults are most likely to value recommendations about products and services on social sites, according to a report by GfK Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI).

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Among 255,431 social media conversations focused on Super Bowl ads, Volkswagen, Doritos, Pepsi, Groupon, and Motorola were the top 5 advertisers, garnering the most social media mentions from December 1, 2010 to February 6, 2011, according to a study by Alterian. Microblogs, (e.g., Twitter) were the top media source, comprising more than two-thirds of such conversations.

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The Apple and Google brands had the most significant impact online in the fourth quarter of 2010, generating "impact values" of $941.5 million and $875.8 million, respectively, based on high volumes of online media buzz and social media conversation, according to a study by General Sentiment that assigns a dollar value to a brand's online exposure.

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Among popular social marketing channels, user-generated content stands out for driving return on investment: 73% of surveyed CMOs say their companies facilitate customer ratings and reviews; among those, 59% report average or significant ROI—making ratings and reviews the top social strategy to generate measurable return, according to a report by Bazaarvoice and the CMO Club.

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Companies reporting the heaviest use of Web 2.0 technologies—particularly those deploying them beyond their own corporate walls—are deriving the greatest value, including more-effective marketing, stronger collaboration, and increased market share, according to a study by The McKinsey Global Institute.

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The amount of time online Americans spent tweeting and reading tweets on Twitter grew an estimated 18.9% in 2010, while the number of US online adults paying a monthly visit to the microblogging site fell 14% during the same period, according to data from Experian Simmons DataStream.

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Despite anticipated increases in 2011 digital and social marketing budgets, only 30.0% of marketers say they have a strong understanding of social media conversations happening around their brands, according to a survey from Alterian.

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More than seven in ten (71%) of the nation's fastest-growing private companies now use Facebook and, among them, 85% say their efforts are proving successful, up 36 percentage points from the 54% that said so a year earlier, according to a study by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth's Center for Marketing Research.

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US direct and digital advertising expenditures are forecast to reach $163.9 billion in 2011, up 6.2% from 2010 levels, according to a report from the Winterberry Group. Of that total, digital spending is expected to reach $31.6 billion, up 14.0% from the previous year.