Does Social Media Marketing Really Work? [INFOGRAPHIC]

From Twitter to Facebook, to Google+, to YouTube, to Foursquare and more, social media use is the hottest thing in marketing. But does it really work?

Brands and businesses are certainly making a stronger push than ever on social media, which makes sense ? that?s where the people are. Figuring out just how much social media marketing returns on investments of time and money, however, is harder to do.

Facebook marketing company Pagemodo recently pulled research from sources around the web to produce the infographic below, looking at just how much faith marketers have in social media. The aggregated data shows a sense of conservative optimism.

64% of business owners say social media marketing is a promising tactic and they believe it provides returns ? but they aren?t willing to go all in with it just yet and favor a more cautious approach. 20% are more bullish on its potential, according to the same study, while just 6% are hardcore skeptics.

How do marketers and entrepreneurs measure whether social media marketing pays off? Most do so by measuring the accumulation of friends, likes, followers and other online connections. 39% look at shares of brand content, while 35% measure actual leads from social media. Just 18% measure success by overall brand awareness and favorability as gauged by consumer surveys.

Check out the infographic below for more on how much faith businesses put in social media as a marketing tool, and for tips on additional ways to maximize results and measure influence. Then let us know in the comments ? do you think social media marketing provides real results?

Thumbnail image via iStockphoto, courtneyk

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