Jeff Bullas wrote a great post this week regarding Business.com’s 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study. The following information is a summary of some of that post. While the study was US based it does have relevance to the Australian marketplace.

Background to study: It is based on 2,948 valid responses to a Social Media Benchmarking Survey during August and early September, 2009, The study was focused on social media utilization – how people and companies are using social media in a work context today – and not on adoption. All study participants currently used social media in their day-to-day jobs as a resource for business-relevant information and/or worked for a company currently managing, developing or planning social media initiatives

Highlights included:

1. Nearly 65% of respondents reported using using social media as part of their normal work routine to find business relevant information and the key professions to use it were:

• Consulting
• PR/Corporate Communications
• Construction/Real Estate
• Marketing
• Accounting Finance

 Top Line Findings

• The vast majority (92%) are directly involved in planning or managing these initiatives 
• They spend, on average, 18% of their time in a given week on business social media activities
• 35% of people surveyed had spent less than one year managing or involved with social media initiatives 
• 30% of employees having between one and two years of direct experience
• 71% of companies have less than two years of experience with social media initiatives
• Top ten social media initiatives (all at or above 50% participation)
  • Maintenance of company social media sites 71%
  • Monitor company related mentions on social media sites 60%
  • Maintain one or more company blogs 60%
  • Participate in micro-blogging (Twitter) 56%
  • Monitor and or support company ratings or reviews 54%
  • Monitor competitor mentions on social media sites 53%
  • Participation in discussions on 3rd party sites 51%
  • Advertise on social media sites 50%
  • Manange an online community for customers or prospects 50%
  • Participate in online Q&A sessions on 3rd party sites such as Yahoo answers or Linkedin 50%
• Companies are planning, having in development or running on average seven social media initiatives 

How Companies Judge Social Media Success

• Website traffic increase 61%
• Engagement with prospects 57%
• Brand awareness 54%
• Engagement with customers 50%
• Revenue 42%
• Brand reputation 42%
• Prospect lead volume 36%
• Prospect lead quality 33%
• Useful product feedback 23%

What are the Top Social Media Sites That Companies Participate In?

1. Facebook 80%
2. Twitter 56%
3. LinkedIn 39%
4. LinkedIn Companies 38%
5. YouTube 35%

The average company in this study used four different success metrics

1. Web site traffic
2. Engagement – with prospects and customers 
3. Brand impact – awareness and reputation 
4. Leads – both quantity and quality

Top Social Media Sites To Which Companies Upload

• YouTube 64%
• Flickr 26%
• Slideshare 12%
• Photobucket 12%
• GoogleKnol (Googles version of Wikipedia) 11%

You can request the full Business.Com report to view more of the data.