companies now use social media for marketing (though the figure varies widely based on size of company)? Get the details behind these stats and many, many more here in more than 40 of the best articles and blog posts about social media, search, budgeting and digital marketing research, facts and statistics of 2011 so far. Social Media Stats, Facts and Research Does Facebook Need To Build A Search Engine? by MediaPost SearchBlog Social media sites now drive more traffic to many popular sites—including Comedy Central, NFL.com and Netflix—than Google does. MORE >>

More and more people worldwide use mobile devices daily to access the web, to shop and to network on social media sites. Social sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have apps out there to make it dump easy to communicate and update the network from the run. Services like Foursquare are best examples how businesses use location based marketing to reach a wider audience. Subscribers are also increasingly using social networks on their phones. indicated they used a social network on their mobile phone, up from 24.7% That’s up by 2.2 MORE >>

To show a short term ROI out from social media is important to keep the activities motivated and long lasting. In the long term social media brings massive branding power as well. How to show short term social media ROI? You need to set up a strategy, which includes a whole set of tasks to get ROI out of social media and other online activities if you want to succeed! Your social media traffic has a great value. Inbound marketing offers this kind of strategy to help you succeed with your revenue goals. Tweet this on Twitter! MORE >>

Although we consult primarily for large and medium-sized businesses here at Convince & Convert, we are often asked online and in speaking engagements about social media management tools for smaller businesses. If you’re thinking about adopting a social media management tool, there are several questions you should be asking yourself and your team before you dive in. Using a social media management platform is a commitment and an investment in terms of both your time and your bank account, so picking the right one the first time is ideal. MORE >>

Social media monitoring tools continue to proliferate in number and advance in functionality. It’s admittedly a squishy measure, not likely to sit well with the social media ROI crowd; it will make your CEO’s eyes roll and your CFO blanch, but those who really get social media intrinsically know how crucial this is: karma. Social media’s effects are often indirect, which makes “hard&# ROI measurement challenging. Good social media marketing creates positive karma. And real important. these practices. MORE >>