Social Media Statistics: How Much Time to Get Results?

Do you ever wonder how much time you should spend on social media marketing to get results? A recent survey by Social Media Examiner has some social media statistics that you may find useful.

Some 63 percent of marketers use social media for 6 hours or more per week, according to The 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. About 40 percent use it for 11 hours or more per week; and almost 20 percent spend more than 20 hours a week on social media marketing.

In general, the longer marketers have been using social media, the more time they tend to spend on it per week. For example, the majority of novice social media marketers (those with under 12 months of experience using social media) spend 5 or fewer hours per week on social media. However, almost two-thirds of those who have been using social media for two years or more spend 6 hours or more per week on it.

But how much time should you spend on social media marketing to really get results? More seems to be better. Over half of marketers who spend 11 hours or more per week on social media say it has helped them improve sales, while 74 percent of those who spend 40 hours or more per week on social media say it has boosted their sales.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to devote 40 hours a week—or even 10 hours a week—to social media marketing to get good ROI. Here’s what marketers who spend a minimum of 6 hours per week on social media marketing have to say:

• More than 9 in 10 (92 percent) say they have gained increased exposure for their businesses.
• More than half say social media marketing has led to new partnerships with other businesses.
• 55 percent say they have established a reputation for thought leadership as a result of social media marketing.
• Two-thirds of marketers report that social media marketing has helped generate new leads.
• Almost 6 in 10 say their search engine rankings have improved.
• Almost 7 in 10 say they’ve derived insights into their marketplace from using social media.
• 71 percent say social media marketing has helped them build a loyal fan base.
• Almost 8 in 10 report increased traffic to their websites as a result of social media marketing.

Keep in mind that all of this can be obtained with as little as 6 hours per week of your time. Invest a little more, and you can get even better results: For instance, more than half of those who spend 11 hours or more per week on social media say their overall marketing expenses decreased as a result.

Don’t have that much time to spend on social media? No worries: Look for a service that handles your social media marketing for you to make life easier.

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

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