YouTube/Video Top Area for Increased Social Media Marketing

April 5, 2012

This article is included in these additional categories:

B2B | Local & Directories / Small Biz | Promotions, Coupons & Co-op | Social Media

socialmediaexaminer-future-social-meida-activities-april2012.jpgYouTube (and/or other video sites) is the top area where marketers plan on increasing their social media efforts, finds Social Media Examiner in an April 2012 report. YouTube/video is slated for an increase in activity by 76% of respondents, ahead of Facebook (72%), Twitter (69%), blogs (68%), Google+ (67%), and LinkedIn (66%). Younger marketers (aged 20-49) are 13% more likely than their older counterparts (aged over 60) to tab video production as a key growth area (77% vs. 68%).

In fact, according to a March 2012 report [pdf] from the Web Video Marketing Council (WVMC) and Flimp Media, 81% of senior marketing executives are using online video content, with brand websites (67%), social media sites (61%), and email marketing (52%) the most popular avenues for sharing content. Indeed, video appears to be a key complement to email: almost three-quarters of marketers integrating video with email said they believe consumers are more likely to purchase or convert after viewing an email campaign that incorporated video.

Facebook Still Top Tool

socialmediaexaminer-most-common-social-media-tools-april2012.jpgFacebook remains the most common social media tool used by marketers, at 92% of respondents to the Social Media Examiner survey, unchanged from 2011 results. The second-most-popular social network among marketers, Twitter, has an 82% adoption rate, down slightly from 84% last year, meaning Facebook is about 12% more popular than its closest competitor as a marketing tool. LinkedIn comes in third with 73% marketer adoption, up from 71% last year, followed by blogs, at 61% usage, down from 67%. YouTube/other video sites are used by 57% of the respondents, though just 10% have no plans to utilize this channel in the future.

Some of the less popular tools saw a drop in adoption from 2011: social bookmarking sites dropped from 26% to 16%; forums fell from 24% to 19%; and geo-location services dipped from 17% to 14%.

Google+ Gets Some Love

Data from the “2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” indicates that 40% of marketers are using Google+, a significant proportion given the social network was only introduced in late 2011. In addition to its rapid adoption, Google+ easily took the top spot among social media tools that marketers said they wanted to learn more about, cited by 70%, ahead of blogs (59%) and Facebook (58%), which was last year’s leader.

Other Findings:

  • Facebook is by far the top tool used by marketers with less than 6 months of experience, followed by Twitter. The gap between the 2 gradually narrows as marketer experience increases.
  • Marketers spending 40 or more hours a week on social media are much more focused on Twitter, blogs, video, and Google+ than those spending a few hours a week on social media.
  • B2C marketers are more focused on Facebook, while B2B marketers pay more attention to LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogging.
  • Male marketers are 8% more likely to increase their Google+ use than female marketers (70% vs. 64.5%).
  • Marketers are more likely to say they have no plans to utilize photo sharing sites than to increase their activity on them (40% vs. 38%). The same pattern extends to forums (40% vs. 34%), social bookmarking (45% vs. 31%), geo-location (57% vs. 23%), and daily deals (72% vs. 12%).
  • 30% of marketers said they outsource some of their social media marketing efforts, up from 28% in 2011 and 14% in 2010. According to a HubSpot report released in April 2012, social media marketing is the most common service offered by online marketing agencies: 83% of agencies currently do so, while an additional 7% plan to do so in the future.

About the Data: The Social Media Examiner findings are based on a survey of 3,813 marketers, conducted in January 2012. Respondents were roughly split between B2B and B2C focus. 72% were between the ages of 30 and 39, and 62% were females. 57% of participants were based in the US, while 9% were based in Canada, 9% in the UK, and 5% in Australia.

The WBMC results are based on a survey of 272 marketing professionals across various industries.

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