2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

The Social Media Examiner recently published the 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

Miratel Solutions wrote about the report in their blog entry titled 4 Insights from 2013 Social Media Marketing Report Nonprofits Can Learn From.

This report was mainly for businesses, but nonprofits can also learn from this report. Both businesses and nonprofits have the same questions and goals when it comes to social media.

Here are some of the findings:

• At least 88% of marketers want to know the most effective social tactics and the best ways to engage their audience with social media. 
• A significant 69% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube, making it the top area marketers will invest in for 2013.
• While 58% of marketers are blogging, 62% want to learn more about it and 66% plan on increasing blogging activities in 2013. 
• The top two benefits of social media marketing are increasing exposure and increasing traffic. 
• 87% of marketers want to know how to measure their return on investment for social media activities. This question has been top of mind for marketers for the last three years.
• 26% are able to measure their social media activities
• 62% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more and 36% for 11 or more hours weekly. 
• The top five platforms used by marketers are Facebook (92%), Twitter (80%), LinkedIn (70%), blogging (58%) and YouTube (56%).
• YouTube is the top area where marketers plan on increasing their social media efforts.

Here are some of the similarities between nonprofits and businesses:

• Facebook was the top platform used. Twitter was the second platform used the most.
• Both want to learn the best ways to engage their audience with social media.
• Both want to learn how to measure their social media activities.

Great Example of a Nonprofit Guest Blog Post

Nonprofits are always looking for content ideas for their blog posts. One type of blog post is a guest blog post where nonprofits can ask their supporters to write an entry.

Milk + Bookies recently posted a guest blog post on their blog by Ariel Winter (who is on the cast of Modern Family). This is a great example of what a supporter of an organization should write about!

Her post mentioned the following:

• Her involvement with the organization
• Why books have been a big part of her life
• Explains what the organization does and her connection to the organization
• Encourages others to get involved and mentions ways to get involved