Data from Social Media Examiner’s fourth annual survey of marketing firms business owners has shown that only 40% of marketers have been utilizing Google+, but that many claim that they’d like to start using the social network. Facebook is still the dominant social networking site in regards to marketing, with roughly a 90% adoption rate.
Social Media Examiner’s January survey queried over 3,800 marketers globally, from a group that was about equally split between B2B and B2C. Facebook for marketing is highest on the chart, with 92% of those surveyed naming the social networking giant as a tool they use. Twitter came in at 82%, LinkedIn at 73%, Blogs at 61% and YouTube/other video at 57%, to make up the top five social network marketing channels.
Viewership of social bookmarking/news sites dropped to 16% this year, down 10% from 2011. Usage of web forums also fell from 24% to 19%. Regarding photo sharing sites like Pinterest and Flickr, 21% of marketers use them, with 38% of those surveyed saying that they plan on using the sites more in the future.
Google+ came in sixth at 40%, though the survey shows that marketers with more experience (3+ years) used the network more (58%), than those with less experience (6 months or less), at 29%. It was noted that Google+ had only been in existence for 6 months when Social Media Examiner commenced the survey, since its inception last June.
The survey also revealed that 67% of marketers plan to increase marketing efforts using Google+, and 70% were interesting in learning more about the network:
It would appear that Google+ is plainly new, and will likely gain more usership in time. Interestingly, in has recently been reported that Google oddly favors its Google+ less than Facebook in its search results.