The eMarketer report published today indicates 59% of brand marketers are currently using social media as a component of their marketing efforts and the 12 month projected increase brings that number up to 82%! The most popular outlets marketers are using include Facebook, Twitter, online videos and blogs.

As stated directly in the piece, “Respondents reported many common barriers to social media adoption.

Among brand marketers, 37% did not know enough about social media to begin, and another 37% said there was no good way to measure its effectiveness.”

These are commonalities I hear across our client-base…and these are the problems we resolve. We teach clients how to use social media by creating and plan that is integrated with their current marketing efforts, then executing or teaching them to execute and serving as support. We set metrics and benchmarks and measure success montlhy to show the social media marketing results. The ROI is different for each brand as it directly relates to the overall goals of using social media and the expected outcome.

We know social media marketing. We teach social media marketing. We evaluate, innovate, create, implment and execute.

I was on a call the other day with a colleague, Dan Green, and he made a statement that made me laugh and then sigh. He said “you know, today everyone thinks they are a social media expert.” What I thought was going to follow was a statement about how I was one of those people (this was our first interaction). Instead he continued, “…but you understand the strategy and that’s what it takes to be successful.” Over conversation shifted and we began discussing how students, marketers and even some self-proclaimed social media experts just don’t get it. They [social media expert impersonators] think you need to use all the social networks possible at one time to blast your message, need to constantly promote formally and in accordance with a corporate image, and/or to be the first to land in each space…and that is not necessarily the case.

Using social media means engaging with your target audience through thoughtful channels and sending the messages that make the most sense. To do this, you must decide which channels are going to be most effective and then use them effectively! And as I always say, you can’t just be in the space, you have to be active in the space and meaningful to be effective. This might mean that your company will not benefit from a Facebook page as much as it will from a Twitter page…so you shift your priorities and focus. Or maybe the messages you send to your Twitter audience are different than those you send through MySpace.

A question that I constantly encounter is “How can I use Facebook [or insert another social media outlet]?”. The question I would rather hear is “How can I use social media for MY business?” and that is where I can step in and know this client is looking for a strategy and not just implementing tactics without guidance.

Now don’t get me wrong. Sometimes you just have to jump into a space, test the waters and make a splash. Then you have to evaluate the splash and see where it went, how quickly it rippled and how quickly it died (if it does) then revisit and craft the strategy. What I love about social media is that it is constantly changing and maybe what worked six months ago isn’t working today and marketing efforts need to be shifted. Or maybe a new angle has come about and the company can benefit from the use of a new channel. Nothing is set in stone.

There is always…. something creative coming down the pipes and endless opportunities.