WebProNews

Still wondering just how social media can actually benefit your business? There are a variety of ways, and some ways may be more relevant to your own business than others.

MarketingSherpa's "chart of the week" highlights seven business uses of social media, and rates their effectiveness based on results from a survey fielded in December. The biggest impact of social media seems to come in the form of influencing brand reputation.

MarketingSherpa's findings indicate that Over 90% of companies believe social media is most effective in building brand reputation and awareness, with direct marketing objectives falling into the second tier expectations.

"You might expect the revenue-producing goals of direct marketing to rank higher than branding during a recession," says MarketingSherpa. "The conversational and relationship-building nature of social media, however, is more synonymous with PR, which is more likely to help accomplish branding goals."

Perhaps the most important thing to take away from this chart is that in every category, effectiveness outweighs ineffectiveness. That is a pretty good indication that you should be incorporating social media into your strategy in some capacity or another.