Online Marketing Blog

Click the image above to download your copy of the report.

While the speculation, pontification and monetization of social media is reaching momentum of tsunami proportions, many businesses looking for practical advice are asking, “Exactly how are marketers using social media to grow their businesses?”

Michael Stelzner from Social Media Examiner has posed that same question and others like it to a sample of marketers on the front lines of the social web to help bring some clarity to what works, what doesn’t and where to focus.

When asked about the bearing of the report on the intersection of search and social, Mike said, “With Google integrating results from its Google+ network into search, we’ll begin to see an Amazon type social proofing of search results based on the activity of friends.  This will make search even more important.” We agree!

Over the past 6 months we’ve been doing a bit of resource aggregation regarding social media both as a practical application for marketing client content online as well as reviewing research conducted on social media usage. There’s not a lot of research out there but here are a few interesting reports:

• BIGresearch – Simultaneous Media Usage Study

• University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research – Inc. 500 Companies Fast Adopters of Social Media

• Yahoo! and comScore Networks Study Reveals Influential Consumers Can Be Reached Through Search, Social Media and Communication Tools

I am curious what kinds of social media that search marketers and readers of Online Marketing Blog use the most often, so here’s a poll for you.