One of our favorite reports on social media marketing each year comes from our friends at Social Media Examiner, and this year is no exception!

In their sixth annual social media study, more than 2800 marketers reveal where they focus their social media marketing, which social tactics are most effective and how content plays a role into their social media marketing, all incredibly useful info for authors who depend on social media to expand their audience!

In this free report, you’ll discover:

• What social platforms marketers will focus on in the future
• The top social media questions marketers want answered
• How much time marketers invest with social media activities
• The top benefits of social media marketing and how time invested affects results
• The most common forms of content for social media marketing
• And much more!

Here’s just one cool example of info contained in this report, an insightful chart as to what pro marketers judge as the benefits of using social media today!

The top two benefits of social media marketing are increasing exposure and increasing traffic. A significant 92% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses.

Increasing traffic was the second major benefit, with 80% reporting positive results.

Most marketers are using social media to develop loyal fans (72%) and gain marketplace intelligence (71%).

The largest increases in reported benefits were developing loyal fans, which increased to 72% from 65% in 2013, followed by increased sales, which jumped to 50% from 43% in 2013.

Some questions that naturally emerge from the above chart might include, “Can I achieve more benefits by investing more time in social media?”, “Are marketers who’ve been using social media for years gaining even better results?” and “Is there a difference between B2B and B2C?”

Further charts in the free report address these questions — Check it out, marketing authors!