Last week I attended a webinar on The State of Social Media. Hosted by Mike Stelzner of Social Media Examiner and Kipp Bodnar of HubSpot (two fantastic marketing resources, by the way!), the webinar discussed current media trends and statistics.

Here are some of the key points made:

• 73% of businesses plan to increase their use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging in 2011
• There are more than 550 million active Facebook users
• 3/4 people use social media. 15 minutes of ever hour spent online is spent using social media
• When asked marketers if social media was important for their business, 90% said yes with 62% said they “strongly agree”, 28% “agree”
• The longer people have been using social media, the more time they spend on it
• It takes time to develop relationships that leads to actual business
• 92% of marketers are using Facebook, Twitter 84%, LinkedIn 71%, blogs 68%, YouTube/video 56% (Twitter and LinkedIn went down from last year, Facebook went up!)
• 72% of marketers who have been using social media for more than 3 years report it helped them close business
• Marketing in an asset and social media is an annuity
  

When they asked a surveyed audience, “What question about marketing with social media do you most want answered?”

Top 3:
1.  How do I measure the effectiveness of social media marketing on my business?
How do I show solid ROI? What measurement tools are available? How much is a fan/follower worth? (Management is demanding “proof” social media is  helping business.)
2. How do I integrate and manage all of my social media activities?
This moved from #9 in 2010 to #2 in 2011. Marketers understand that social can impact all other forms of marketing (you’re seeing commercials, mail, etc., with social components. Can integrate with and enhance traditional marketing.
3.  What are the best ways to sell with social media?
It used to be, “how can I converse with people”, but now, it’s “how can I make money?” Social commerce is emerging — people can buy stuff without leaving Facebook.

Top areas of focus for 2011:
1.       video

• Marketers investing 40+ hours per week are more focused on video
• 77% of marketers plan on increasing their YouTube/video marketing
• Businesses with 1000 or more employees indicated this area is a key growth area, with 82% responding affirmatively

2.       Facebook

• 92% already there; 75% plan on increasing
• 80% of B2C plan on increasing FB efforts
• 83% of large business will also increase FB activities

3.       Blogging

• 75% of marketers plan on increasing their use of blogs
• self employed: 79%