Useful Social Media’s 2012 State of Corporate Social Media found that social media marketing is becoming an increasingly important element of business activity. As the channel continues to become more effective, and more metrics arise to gauge and perpetuate success, businesses of all sizes and specialties recognize the need for careful management of social marketing.
According to the report, 35 percent of companies included in the poll employ two to three people to manage their social presence. In general, an active social strategy includes the sharing of content across several different platforms and interaction with prospects, clients and others who engage.
Many have found that making social a part of an employee’s job, rather than their main responsibility, results in poorly conducted campaigns that lack effectiveness. Despite the increase in social media marketing’s value to businesses, 8 percent of companies included in the study do not have someone dedicated to the channel.
The competitive demand for resourcing social strategies is set to rise. While two to three dedicated executives was the largest portion of responses, six or more was the second most frequently cited response with 25 percent.
Useful Social Media also broke down their numbers by the type of business. According to the report, 38 percent of B2B businesses have two to three people to handle their social media marketing. Furthermore, 21 percent have at least six people on the job, while only 8 percent do not have anyone.
For B2C companies, 27 percent have least six people working on their social campaigns, while 30 percent have at least two or three.
In general, companies report that leveraging social is an ideal complement to their existing new media marketing efforts. Whether it’s sharing links to articles or blog posts written as part of a content marketing campaign or asking prospects and clients about certain issues, the channel’s strength continues to grow as more become regular users and the platforms add new features.
Aside from dedicating resources to manage a brand’s social presence, the report suggests that more businesses are encouraging staff members to maintain related social presences. According to Useful Social Media, 84 percent of businesses included in the study encourage at least one employee outside of the department to engage on behalf of the business.
Despite Useful Social Media’ findings, Brafton recently reported that there are many organizations failing to integrate their social media use into marketing and brand-building campaigns. According to a report from Forrester, more than half of companies have kept their social use separate from any marketing initiatives.
