Earlier this year, Social Media Examiner commissioned its sixth annual 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report (which surveyed 2,800+ marketers). This article highlights challenges around some of the newest social media trends marketers are facing this year. As the social media marketing industry continues its massive expansion, the needs of marketers continue to shift. Per the 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, at least 83% of marketers surveyed felt they still struggle with finding answers to the following questions:
- What social tactics are most effective?
- What are the best ways to engage my audience with social media?
- How do I measure the return on my social media marketing?
- What are the best social management tools?
- How do I find my target audience with social media?
So what social media activities are marketers focusing on in 2014?
Content
Over half of the marketers (58%) surveyed chose original written content as their most important form of social media content, followed at a distance by original visual assets (19%) and original videos (12%).
Tip: Check out 9 Time Saving Writing Tools for Content Marketers published by Jeff Bullas
Blogging Has Become the Biggest Area for Increase
Blogging has become increasingly important to social media marketers—68% of marketers plan to increase their future use of blogging. In fact, over the last two years, the importance of blogging has incrementally climbed from ranking as number four in 2012, to number one in 2014.
Tip: Check out 56 Ideas For Blog Posts for Your Business Blog
Google+ Tops Marketers’ Interest Lists
When asked what social media platform they wanted to master, 65% of marketers said Google+, displacing blogging, which took the top spot in 2013 report published by Social Media Examiner, with the next runner up this year being Linkedin with 57% of marketers.
Tip #1: Learn about 10 Tips on How Not to Use Google Plus
Tip #2: Find out How To Use Google+ for Marketing
Social Media Tactics Are Still a Top Challenge
The burning question for the vast majority (91%) of marketers is, “What social tactics work best?” This is followed closely by 89% of marketers who wanted to know, “What is the best way to engage audiences with social media?” These are valid questions, considering the constant changes across social media platforms.
Tip #1: Each network has its own personality. Here are some considerations for how to leverage the four big social networks for customer engagement:
- Twitter – Great for building buzz quickly to a lot of people. The content and tone is more informal and requires less of a relationship with the audience to establish a connection. Obviously, however, Twitter is not good for long-form content since you only get 140 characters.
- Facebook – Nothing better for putting a human face on a business. The most personal of the big social media networks, Facebook is great for boosting your company’s likability. Remember to keep it as visual as possible.
- LinkedIn – More formal. Great for sharing industry and business-focused content. Keep the conversations focused on business.
- Google+ – Less active than the others, but great for optimizing for Google search. Also, very important for local search optimization.
Tip #2: Increase customer engagement levels with 10 Ways to Engage Your Customers
Social ROI Continues to be a Mystery and a Challenge
Measuring social media ROI remains murky and elusive for marketers. Only 37% are able to measure their social activities (compared to 26% in 2013), while 35% are not sure and 28% can’t measure it at all.
Tip: Find out Four Metrics that Matter Most to CMO’s – Measuring Social Media
When executed well, social media can deliver amazing engagement benefits for brands and enable them to create meaningful and measurable relationships with customers. Don’t give up!
