Report: Many Organizations Still Lack Developed Social Media Marketing Teams

New research released by Simply Measured shows that many companies do not know where social media should live within their organization, how big the team should be and how the team should be structured.

About 57 percent of respondents said that social media rolls into marketing, while 16 percent wrote in their own answers. These responses ranged from, “Each department manages their own social media outreach” to “It used to be in communications, then marketing, then customer service.”

In addition, most companies only have 1-3 people working on their social media team. Just 25 percent of respondents said they have five or more people handling social media responsibilities.

“The most common role across all companies is the social media manager, followed by the social media strategist, community manager and director of social media,” wrote the researchers.

About 29 percent of respondents wrote in roles that were not listed in the survey. The keywords in their responses included “marketing,” “content,” “digital,” and “communications.”

The Growing Interest in B2B Social Media

Despite the team disorganization surrounding social media, B2B marketers continue to show a strong interest in its potential. The “2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” published by Social Media Examiner showed that most B2B marketers intend to increase social media usage this year, as well as their understanding on its business impact.

About 82 percent of B2B marketers plan on increasing their LinkedIn usage, while 53 percent said they would do the same with Facebook. Nearly 40 percent said they were going to boost their use of Instagram.

However, 88 percent of respondents claimed that they still want more evidence of their return on investment for social media activities.