2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

The Social Media Examiner recently released the 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. Here are some of the findings:

The top 5 social media questions marketers want answered are

1. What social tactics are most effective? 
2. What are the best ways to engage my audience with social media?
3. How do I measure the return on my social media marketing? 
4. What are the best social management tools? 
5. How do I find my target audience with social media?

92% of marketers said that social media was important to their businesses.

68% of marketers analyze their social media activities.

43% of marketers feel like their Facebook efforts are working. Most marketers either don't know or indicated that their Facebook marketing is not working.

The top two benefits of social media marketing are increasing exposure and increasing traffic.

Facebook (94%), Twitter (83%),  LinkedIn (71%), YouTube (57%), blogging (55%), Google+ (54%) and Pinterest (47%) were the top seven platforms used by marketers

The most important platforms marketers use are Facebook (54%),  LinkedIn (17%), Twitter (12%) and blogging (8%).

The most important content for marketers is original written content (58%).

Content forms marketers want to learn more about is creating original visual assets (68%).