Our Social Media Content Optimization Survey looks into the strategies marketers are using to optimize their social content and how effective they’ve been.

1. Social Media Content
Optimization Survey

2. Software Advice, in partnership with Adobe, developed an 11-question survey
targeting marketing professionals to determine the following:
• Which tactics are marketers currently using to optimize their social content?
• How successful are marketers at achieving their goals through social media?
• How many marketers are using social media management tools?
Abstract

3. Number of Active Social Media Outlets
Of the marketers who took our survey, the vast majority (84 percent) said they
actively posted content on at least three or more social networks.
3%
5%
2%
10%
16%
25%
23%
14%
2%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9*
10*
More than 10
*Denotes an option offered in the survey, but not selected by any respondents.

4. Number of Social Media Posts per Day
Most marketers (70 percent) said they post content on social media outlets at
least once a day, with 19 percent saying they post more than three times daily.
14%
16%
22%
20%
8%
19%
More than 3
3
2
1
Fewer than 1
No schedule

5. How Far in Advance Posts Are Scheduled
A total of 65 percent said they schedule their social content at least one day in
advance, with only 12 percent saying they didn’t schedule posts ahead of time.
12%
24%
15%
41%
7%
2%
1%
More than one month
One month
Several weeks
Several days to one week
One day
Less than one day
No schedule

6. Most Important Tactics for Optimizing Social Content
Most respondents (82 percent) said it was “important” or “very important” to use
images or photos, while 67 percent said the same about hashtags and usernames.
Percent of sample
Use images or photos
Include hashtags/usernames
Target specific groups or users
Use social CTA (e.g., share, retweet)
Optimize image size for each network
Use videos
Limit number of characters
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Very important Important Moderately important
Minimally important Not important at all N/A

7. Ways to Determine Optimal Times to Post
Most (87 percent) said it was at least “moderately important” to test the sharing
rates and click-through rates (CTR) of content posted at different times.
Percent of sample
Trial and error to test share rate
Trial and error to test CTR
Social media optimization tools
Read market trend reports
A/B testing with each audience
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Very important Important Moderately important
Minimally important Not important at all N/A

8. Goals Most Successfully Achieved Through Social Content
Most marketers said they were at least “moderately successful” when it came to
gaining new followers (74 percent) and building brand recognition (77 percent).
Percent of sample
Gain followers
Build brand recognition
Nurture relationships
Increase customer engagement
Drive customer loyalty
Drive website traffic
Drive social signals for SEO
Build thought leadership
Generate leads
Drive direct-response sales
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Very successful Successful Moderately successful
Minimally successful Not successful at all N/A

9. Use of Software or Services to Automate Posting
Over half of our survey respondents (57 percent) said their company uses a
software product or service to automate their social content posting.
43%
57%
Uses software/service
No software/service

10. Overall Difficulty of Optimizing Social Content
Over half of marketers (55 percent) considered it at least “somewhat difficult” to
optimize their social content, with 10 percent saying it was “extremely difficult.”
Percent of sample
All marketers
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Extremely easy Fairly easy
Somewhat difficult Extremely difficult

11. Overall Difficulty of Optimizing Social Content by Tools Usage
Respondents who said they used software tools were significantly less likely to say
they had difficulty optimizing their social media content.
Percent of sample
Marketers using tools
Marketers not using tools
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Extremely easy Fairly easy
Somewhat difficult Extremely difficult

12. Demographics: Respondent Size by Number of Employees
Most of our respondents were marketers working for small businesses, with 43
percent representing companies with 10 or fewer employees.
2%
3%
3%
2%
12%
34%
43%
1-10
10-100
100-500
500-1,000
1,000-5,000
5,000-20,000
More than 20,000
Not sure

13. Demographics: Respondents by Level of Responsibility
Nearly all respondents held relatively senior-level job titles, with “owner/founder”
being the most common, at 29 percent.
2%
2%4%
10%
13%
17% 24%
29% Owner/founder
Manager
Director
Coordinator/specialist
C-level executive
Vice president
Senior vice president
Other

14. Software Advice™ is a trusted resource for software buyers. The company's
website, www.softwareadvice.com, provides detailed reviews, comparisons and
research to help organizations choose the right software. Meanwhile, the company’s
team of software analysts provide free telephone consultations to help each
software buyer identify systems that best fit their needs. In the process, Software
Advice connects software buyers and sellers, generating high-quality opportunities
for software vendors.
@SoftwareAdvice /company/software-advice
@SoftwareAdvice/SoftwareAdvice
Read about our findings in more detail.Read Report