The following statistics and analysis represent some of the highlights culled from the 2010 Social Media in Marketing Survey. The following chart ranks the five most popula social-media applications used in exhibit marketing, event marketing and general marketing:

Exhibit Marketing

1. Social-Networking Sites
2. Professional-Networking Sites
3. Microblogs
4. Blogs/ Microsites
5. video-Sharing Sites

Event Marketing

1. Social-Networking Sites
2. Blogs/ Microsites
3. Microblogs
4. Professional-Networking Sites
5. Video-Sharing Sites

General Marketing

1. Social-Networking Sites
2. Professional-Networking Sites
3. Blogs/ Microsites
4. Microblogs
5. video-Sharing sites

Hours per week that the participants dedicated to strategizing, executing, and monitoring their social-media presence:

49% 1-5 hours
18% Less than 1 hour
13% 6-10 hours
11% 11-20 hours
4% 31-40 hours
3% 21-30 hours
2% More than 40 hours

Perspective of the participants in regards to the value and importance of social media as a marketing tool in 2010:

46% - Increasing somewhat
30% - Increasing strongly
13% - Remaining consistent
8% - Don't know
3% - Decreasing

Reasons why participant's companies have never used social media as part of their marketing efforts:

22% - Lack of time to dedicate to social media
20% - Lack of knowledge on social media
11% - Inability to control branding/ messaging
10% - Target market is not interested in social media
8% -  Inadequate internal IT resources
6% - Prohibited by corporate policy
6% - Not sure
5% - Lack of financial resources
4% - Don't believe it is worth the investment
4% - External regulatory issues
4% - Other

The overall results showed more advantages than disadvantages when it came to integrating a social media strategy as part of the marketing plan. For more information on the survey results and methodology, visit www.exhibitorweblinks.com.