Top 10 Questions Small Businesses Are Asking About Social Media Marketing

Props to Michael Stelzner for his snapshot Social Media Marketing Whitepaper. I took part in the survey and I must say am pretty impressed at the resulting whitepaper called Social Media Marketing Industry Report – How Marketers are using Social Media to Grow their Business. Download from link below.

As a voracious reader of as much Social Media Marketing Industry research as I have the time to read I found this whitepaper a very interesting read and one to return to review more than once.

The report sets out to examine:

The top social media marketing questions marketers want answered
How much time marketers are investing in social media…
The benefits of social media…
How time invested impacts results…
The top social media tools

Most of the findings weren’t a surprise to me – more a confirmation… because even offline, marketers are asking the same questions.

Questions like:

What are the best tactics to use?
How do I measure social media effectiveness?
Where do I get started?
How do I manage the social balance?
What are the best [social media] sites and tools out there?
How do I make the most of my available time with Social Media?
How do I find and focus my efforts on my target audience
How do I convert social media marketing efforts into tangible results?
How do I tie all the social media efforts together?
Does social media marketing work, and if so, how effective is it?

These are excellent questions. And at least they are being asked. However it does point to the fact that there is still a lot of confusion and running in circles when it comes to Social Media Marketing.

Marketers seem not to be using a strategic approach and their focus is still mainly on “which tools should I use?” That both confirms and concerns. Also, the thought that Social Media Marketing is the next gold rush is to put it mildly, even more of a concern. It isn’t and never has been a magic bullet. And it is still evolving.

Earth to marketers: Strategy and objectives first… everything falls into place behind those.

O.K. while I clamber down off my strategy soap-box (which will be prised from my fingers on pain of death) I have to say this report is a great springboard and a challenge to Social Media practitioners.

I’d already been thinking of putting together some simple step by step guidelines to help marketers make sense of the Social Media marketing puzzle – beginning with strategy. This report is a gem because it not only proves this is needed (start here, go here, then here…) it’s going to be a huge help in my doing just that.

What’s the Answer?

The report doesn’t actually answer any of the questions, so presumably that’s going to be done elsewhere such as the Social Media Summit. If anything the report actually raises more questions. That’s not such a bad thing. And all the research in the world is only as good as what you actually do with the findings and how you apply them. However the more research we have into Social Media Marketing for businesses (especially for Small businesses) the better.

Getting Down to The Money

Small businesses need help in getting to grips with Social Media Marketing. After the glow of discovery the big task will be getting the answers, translating them into actions, measuring results and tweaking for improvements.

Marketers can get some idea of what else is being done in the Social Media Marketing domain.

Social Media experts can use this research to get ahead of the curve… know the questions people are asking, identify the need. Then find a way to meet that need and be part of the solution.

Download the Social Media Marketing Industry Report here. Once again, props to Michael for doing this research and making it freely available under the Creative Commons license… This would probably have been out of reach of most had it been done by, say, a Forrester or Marketing Sherpa. (Aberdeen at least gives free access to their research). I also liked the way he acknowledges the Social Media “gurus”- a recently much maligned group in some quarters.

Read the report and share your thoughts and insights. And don’t forget to spread the word. After all, that is the power of Social Media.