According to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, nearly half of the marketers surveyed said social media generated qualified leads. Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were listed as the top tools used, in that order.

The study, which surveyed about 900 marketers, also found that while 88 percent use some form of social media to market their businesses, 72 percent have either just started or have been using it only a few months.

“One in three marketers indicated identifying the best practices, measuring results and knowing where to begin as their top questions when marketing with social media,” the report said. No doubt many marketers will be looking to their ad agencies for answers to these questions.

To see the full report, visit: http://marketingwhitepapers.s3.amazonaws.com/smss09/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport.pdf

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.