2016 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INDUSTRY REPORT

Social Media Examiner’s ‘2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report’ was published recently, discussing the results of a survey encompassing over 5000 marketers. This report shows how these marketers are currently using social media to grow their businesses, as well as their future plans for it.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest were the 7 most popular platforms used by marketers. However, only Facebook and Instagram maintained or increased their market share since 2015, with all other platforms declining in popularity.

The most common types of content shared are visual, blogging and videos. Live video and podcasting are less commonly shared but are considered an area of opportunity. Unsurprisingly, video and live video were considered hugely important among those surveyed, with 60% using video and 73% planning on increasing their video usage. Live video in particular is popular, with 50% of respondents planning on using it and the other 50% wanting to learn more about it.

This desire for live video may be a reason Facebook and YouTube, both of whom offer live video services, feature in the future plans of 63% of marketers. Further, while only 5% of marketers are currently using Snapchat (which also offers live video capabilities) expect it to boom in the coming year with 16% planning on using the app and 28% wanting to learn more about it.

What’s interesting about Facebook’s dominance is that while 86% of marketers regularly use Facebook ads, 40% don’t know if their Facebook traffic has declined and 35% aren’t sure if their Facebook marketing has been effective. When we consider other social sites used by marketers, only 41% felt they were able to measure their return on investment.

Similarly, only 46% of marketers feel like their Facebook efforts are working, with the remainder either feeling that their Facebook efforts were unsuccessful or that they were unsure of their effectiveness. However, marketers who focussed on reaching consumers reported significantly higher Facebook campaign effectiveness; with 52% feeling their efforts were effective compared to the 38% who used Facebook to reach businesses.

The other most popular forms of social media advertising were Google ads and Twitter ads, with LinkedIn ads being popular among business to business marketers. The platforms marketers are planning on increasing their advertising on include Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube; with 70% saying they had no plans for Pinterest advertising.

While there may be some disagreement as to the effectiveness of Facebook campaigns among the marketers surveyed, there’s no confusion as to the overall value of social media marketing, with 89% reporting increased exposure and increased traffic as a direct result of their social media efforts. Gaining loyal fans, learning more about their marketplace and generating leads are also highly regarded benefits reported, with more than half of marketers who’ve been using social media for over 2 years reporting increased sales.

The questions that marketers have most wanted answered has remained unchanged since 2014’s report; finding effective social tactics, discovering the best ways to engage with an audience, measuring their return on investment, finding a target audience and finding the best social management tools.

While one can argue that the differences between 2015 and 2016’s reports aren’t huge, with new tools and features becoming available across several platforms as well as the rise of some newer platforms and the decline of older platforms; the future of social media marketing is interesting to consider.