A Guru's Look at Social Media Marketing

White paper guru, Michael A. Stelzner, has done an amazing job producing Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses. To find participants for his survey, Michael started with a post on Twitter on January 9, 2009. It simply said, "Take the 2009 Social Media Marketing Industry Survey. Many posted links to the survey on Facebook and on their blogs. Finally, a list of about 2500 marketers was emailed and asked to take to take the survey. After a total of ten days, the survey was closed with 880 participants.

Some of the stats include:
88% indicated they were using social media for marketing purposes
72% have been using social media marketing for a few months
64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week
39% are using it for 10 hours a week

Although many businesses are adopting social media as a marketing tool, and marketers understand social media to some degree by now; this much needed report provides an invaluable perspective for both the veteran and beginner by answering questions like:

1. What are the best tactics to use?

2. How do I measure the effectiveness of social media?

3. Where do I start?

4. How do I manage the social balance?

5. What are the best sites and tools out there?

6. How do I make the most of my available time?

7. How do I find and focus my efforts on my target audience?

8. How do I convert my social media marketing efforts into tangible results?

9. How do I cohesively tie different social media efforts together?

10. Does social media marketing work, and if so, how effective is it?

As it is with all research time is a major investment. Michael's white paper is definitely worth your while. The report is available for free as a downloadable PDF here .  I would also recommend checking out the video highlighting some of the White Paper's findings with Michael moderating.