Social Media Marketing Resources

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Nearly three-quarters (74%) of surveyed marketers say they are actively monitoring social media via paid or free tools, but less than one-quarter (24%) among them say they are extremely satisfied with their social monitoring tools, according to a survey from Web Liquid.

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Since 2002, search and email have been the most popular online activities in the US and remain so today, according to a new report by Pew Research.

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Time Magazine, People, and Self earned the top three spots among a list of 87 prominent magazine brands for exceptional marketing performance across digital, social, and mobile channels, according to the newly launched L2 ThinkTank Digital IQ Index, which measures and ranks the digital competence of magazine brands.

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Only one month after its launch, the Google+ project has gained tremendous momentum and praise, and it's already forecast to become the second most popular social networking site in the US by mid-2012, according to a study by YouGov.

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LinkedIn continues to dominate the executive corner of the social media universe with a highly-engaged member base: 61% of registered LinkedIn users say LinkedIn is the social site they use most for professional networking, and 35% check the site daily, according to a survey from Lab42.

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Though word-of-mouth recommendations still have the greatest influence on purchasing decisions among small and medium-sized businesses, online forums and blogs play a huge role in the process, too—and a more influential one than advertisements or consultations with salespeople, according to a new survey from Ivy Worldwide.

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Brands that conduct Facebook marketing can gain huge benefits by targeting the friends of their Facebook fans, according to a new report by comScore and Facebook, which also found that Facebook users spend 27% of their time browsing homepage newsfeeds.

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Brands are using a new and expanding set of advertising tools to reach social consumers: 67% of surveyed brand managers say they conduct some type of social media advertising and another 18% plan to implement such activities in the next year, according to a new study by The Pivot Conference and Brian Solis.

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Most Members of Congress have integrated social media into their communications strategies—using social tools to gauge public opinion, communicate with constituents, and reach new people, according to a survey from the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF).

CONTENT TYPE: Chart | TOPIC: Social Media Marketing

More than six in ten online Canadians (62%) say they have a social networking profile; among them 48% "like" or "follow" at least one brand or company on a social site, and 49% say their views of products and brands are influenced by recommendations of those in their social network, according to a survey from Ipsos.

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Small business owners are still lukewarm about social media: 53% say they use social media for business, but only 12% say social marketing is a must for their business, according to a survey from Hiscox. Social media adoption varies by company size, however.

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LinkedIn is now the second most popular social networking site in the US: Traffic to the professional networking website increased 63% year over year as of June 2011, inching past MySpace for the first time, according to data from comScore Media Metrix.

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Marketing budgets are on the rise again: 57% of senior-level marketers say they are increasing their overall marketing spend in 2011; among them, most (26%) plan to increase budgets between 1% and 5%, according to the CMO Council's State of Marketing Report.

CONTENT TYPE: Chart | TOPIC: Social Media Marketing

Ad rates on the nation's most popular social network are climbing: Median cost-per-clicks (CPCs) on Facebook grew 22% in the second quarter of 2011 over the previous quarter, according to report by Efficient Frontier and Context Optional. Meanwhile, search spending increased 8% in the second quarter over 2Q10 levels.

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More online consumers are using Facebook on a regular basis to find information about their favorite retail brands, whereas fewer consumers are turning to blogs, forums, and consumer review sites than they were a year ago, according to a new survey from Compete. Twitter is less popular than Facebook for finding retail information, but Twitter feeds are more successful than Facebook pages at influencing purchase decisions among users.

CONTENT TYPE: Chart | TOPIC: Social Media Marketing

Venture capital (VC) funding of social media companies reached $2.23 billion in the second quarter of 2011, roughly 3.5 times the $643 million raised by social media companies one year earlier, according to a report by Wedbush Securities. Group-buying companies received the largest outlays during the quarter, led by LivingSocial, 55tuan, and Coupons.com.