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Social Media Seen As Best To Boost Brand Awareness

According to a new PRDaily study, with data from more than 1,200 marketers to create the State of Social Media 2016 report, five out of every six marketers said they’d like to create more video content. Also, 30% of marketers seek to focus specifically on Facebook video in 2017, with 28% looking to add YouTube to their marketing efforts.

As video rises in popularity, says the report, and more brands and individuals share it, getting noticed will become harder. Eventually, brands may have to pay for video reach, as many do for sponsored posts and ads, opines the report.

Over the past five years, says the report, social media marketing has become incredibly important for businesses of all sizes, but 85% of businesses are on social media primarily to boost brand awareness, followed by community engagement (71%). Among all reasons to use social media, including awareness, community, distribution, and lead generation, customer support was the only factor cited by fewer than half of brands (just 21%).

The report found that 93% of marketers use Facebook for business and 91% have invested in Facebook Ads. Despite the drop in its organic reach, 72% of respondents said their use of Facebook has held steady or increased in the past 12 months.

58% of marketers said driving traffic to their website was a primary social media challenge, followed by generating leads (49%). 42% of respondents listed Measurement and ROI as a challenge, and continue to present problems for marketers. Only 21% of businesses listed customer support as a way they use social media, says the report.

The report shows key insights into how marketers use social media:

  • Facebook is the leading platform for marketers, with 93% of respondents saying their business actively uses it. Twitter was close behind, with 89% saying they use it for business.
  • Google+ is the channel most marketers feel they will invest less time in over the next 12 months (27% of respondents). Twitter was second in declining interest, with 23%.
  • Multimedia content seems a prime focus for 2017, says the report, with many marketers banking on video. All four social platforms focus on visuals, heralding a spike in multimedia content in 2017
  • Despite Facebook’s organic reach continuing to drop over the past year, most businesses are still actively using the platform: 46% of respondents said their use of Facebook has held steady, 26% said they share more content, and 28% said they now post less.
  • Facebook appears to be the leader in paid marketing spending, with 91% of respondents investing in ads on the platform, way ahead of Twitter, which finished second with 34% having bought Twitter ads.
  • This calendar year, 42% of respondents have spent more than in 2015, with only 7% of companies decreasing their social media marketing budgets. 51% saw their annual budgets stay the same.
  • If there were no obstacles (time, resources, budget), 83% of marketers said they’d create more video content. Blog posts finished second (57%) on the wish list, and live video, significantly, was third (42%).
  • 8.From the survey, 73% of marketers cite a lack of time as a hindrance to creating videos. The perceived cost was also a reason why 41% have yet to dive in or create more videos.
  • Despite the excitement around live video during 2016, most 74% of marketers have yet to create live video content. For those who have done so, Facebook Live was the platform of choice, ahead of Periscope and YouTube.
  • Marketers seem excited about the potential of Instagram and Snapchat, with 26% and 22% saying they’re looking to add the platforms to their channels in the next 12 months. Despite this, 71% have yet to create stories on either platform.

80% of respondents agree that “Social media is only a part of my role.” To elaborate, concludes the report:

  • 84% also do content marketing alongside social media
  • 68% also do email marketing alongside social media
  • 62% combine social media with community-focused projects
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