Social Media Still On Rise, Survey Says

The latest Re:NEW Michigan survey of social media, provided by Ann Arbor-based Eiler Communications, shows growing numbers in the use of social media networks for consumer and business-related marketing.

The majority of people continue to get their news from electronic online news sources such as CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times, as found in the previous surveys conducted in April 2010 and December 2008.

Eiler compared the results of the Re:NEW Michigan survey taken this October to the April 2010 and December 2008 surveys.

The results show the use of Facebook increased by 15.5 percent, podcasts by 7.5 percent, YouTube by 5.6 percent and blogs by 5.2 percent since April 2010. 

Overall, 25.5 percent of respondents said social media has replaced other forms of marketing in their business, compared to 17.4 percent in April of 2010 (an increase of 8.1 percent).

Almost half of respondents – 48.7 percent– use Google Analytics as a measurement tool and 43.9 percent of respondents use visual analysis such as looking at the number of fans, friends, likes, comments, followers, etc. However, 36.5 percent of respondents do not use any measuring technique for social media.

Despite the rise in popularity, some respondents have been reluctant to incorporate social media in their marketing strategy. Many respondents sited the time commitment, privacy/control issues, content accuracy and its "fad" tendencies as social media marketing concerns.

For some of the respondents it simply came down to value vs. time. Among the concerns mentioned were that if done poorly, there is an enormous potential to do more damage. Respondents were concerned with the devotion of time needed to become properly versed in social media techniques and the difficulty of measuring ROI with consistency. Others commented on the lack of attribution and un-validated posts.

Re:NEW Michigan is a trademark of Eiler Communications, www.eilerpr.com, which periodically surveys a sample of businesses, healthcare and educational institutions, governmental and non-profit leaders on various topics of broad interest especially related to marketing.

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