Si Muddell: The State of Social Media Marketing (Infographic)

SMM - Should we?

Since time began for Social Media Marketing (SMM), the big debate and quest for analysis of the 'return on investment' from SMM has long been the talk both in the marketing world, and the board room.

As many brands were barely getting the feet wet with basic digital marketing tactics, others were starting to realise the potential that SMM had, especially at first in terms of brand/product awareness, engagement, and being a valuable customer service channel.

Below is an interesting infographic by WishPond that shows the state of Social Media Marketing. It consists of data collated from a number of reputable sources (Experian, Hubspot, Social Bakers,
Nielsen).

Growing Pains

Of course there have been general growing pains in social media; from posting 101's, change in organic algorithms (Facebook), network re-designs and functionality advances, and ad-serving technology evolution, but the same could be said for any evolving industry. Google Adwords has come a long way since it began!

Whilst many brands have embraced social media, others haven't quite grasped its full potential, or are not using it all, or worse still are using it but very badly which is damaging their brand and their bank account!

In a world where a new social network seems to come out on a weekly basis, brands do not and (arguably in a lot of instances) should not be on every platform. That said, some marketers / businesses are still a little shy when it comes to SMM, and they should try and at least test out the marketing tools that are available.

For those marketers and brands that are still thinking SMM is a waste of money and time, or are still being asked to justify the SMM they are doing, please see the very interesting 'Q2- 2013: State of Social Media Marketing' infographic below.

The Caveat....as with all marketing

Of course, I will caveat that the success of any marketing campaign is a result of benchmarking against your original goals and objectives.

I am not saying "Go and spend $ on Facebook ads and you are guaranteed sales"

I am saying "There are a lot of people regularly using social media networks, which means there is a big opportunity to reach and engage with your audience. Research these networks, define your goals, benchmark where you are at now, be creative, test what you do, review what works and what didn't, repeat and optimise"