• Marketers are mostly new to social media: A significant 88% of marketers surveyed are using social media to market their businesses, BUT 72% have only been doing so for a few months or less.
• How much time does this take? A significant 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week and 39% for 10 or more hours weekly.
• The top benefit of social media marketing: The number-one advantage is generating exposure for the business, indicated 81% of all marketers, followed by increasing traffic and building newbusiness partnerships.
• The top social media tools: Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were the top
four social media tools used by marketers, in that order.
• Social media tools marketers most want to learn about: Social book marking.

The top question marketers want answered is related to best practices and tactics. A sampling of some of those questions include:
• Which social media method has been the most successful overall and how have you used that method?
• How do I stand out while creating strategic partnerships with those in the same field?
• How can social media help to build our brand and reinforce our credibility among
consumers?
• Can using blogs, short videos, tweets and status updates help us market ourcore products, or do they just get in the way of our message?
• Is it true that social media marketing is better suited for branding than direct
response?

source : Social Media Marketing Industry Report . Stelzner . .