Last week Michael Stelzner, with Social Media Examiner, released the 2011 social media marketing industry report. In it he shares information about how companies are using social media for their business, what tools they plan on using more than others in 2011, and how they have benefited from social media.

He and his team surveyed 3,300 businesses to get the results for this report. I wanted to point out some of the statistics I found to be insightful, but I encourage you to download the full detailed report. The information it provides could answer some of your own social media questions and help you plan out a social media marketing campaign for 2011.

What’s the time commitment for social media?

• 58% of marketers surveyed are using social media for six hours or more each week
• 34% are using it for 11 or more hours weekly
• 47% of marketers who have more than three years experience in social media spend at least 16 hours per week using it

Age matters

• The younger the marketer, the more time he or she spends using social media
• People aged 20 to 29 years old spend more time than other age groups using social media—with 41% spending 11 or more hours weekly

The top five benefits of social media

• Generated exposure for the business (88%)
• Increased traffic to website and/or subscribers (72%)
• Improved SEO ranking (62%)
• Resulted in new business partnerships (56%)
• Generated qualified leads (51%)