After several years in social networks, companies and professionals are already having the knowledge and experience that allows them to judge what works best for them when it reaches their goals, what their main challenges are and how they can measure, More effectively, their performance.

Ascend2, an agency consultant, conducted a survey of professionals worldwide in February 2013, and a large percentage of companies’ responses in both the B2B and B2C areas considered that customer engagement was the main objective of Their marketing actions within the social media (B2B: 43%, B2C 55%). The traffic of its website was also considered a high priority for both types of professionals (B2B: 37%, B2C 47%).

The leads were cited in a more important position for B2B companies than for consumption, with 29% of those looking for an improvement in their quality and 27% in number.

Search engines remain an important element in the digital strategy of companies, and their combination with social media plays a key role. Approximately 25% of B2B and B2C companies use social media to improve search positioning.

The essential objective for any company that is the increase in sales was recognized as the target of social media for approximately one-third of both types of companies.

To better achieve social goals, most of the answers cite blog posts and article writing. These tactics go in line with the goal of increasing customer engagement . Other forms of content creation that were also highly valued were studies and white books for B2B and video and audio content for both types of companies.

And while all of these strategies may be the most effective at reaching social goals, they do not mean that they are easy to implement.

The three most effective tactics are in turn recognized as the most difficult to execute by both types of companies. These three are the creation of video and audio content, studies and the development of white papers, and the writing of articles and entries for blogs.

As for the obstacles that companies have to face in reaching their objectives, the vast majority (42%) cited the limitations of equipment because they could not have enough people to create the content or handle the continuous interactions that Nourish the social.

The second position, with two out of five answers, was for the difficulty of measuring ROI in this type of actions.

When companies look at how to more effectively measure the performance of social activities, the largest percentage (over 60% on both B2B and B2C pages) acknowledged paying close attention to traffic. This metric, probably very basic, is very direct and easy to control. The same thing happens with the rankings in the search engines, which was the second most commented option. These responses show how, while marketing tactics have become more sophisticated, companies are still trying to find the right methods to quantify social ROI.