Everything we’re seeing and hearing in the channel partner and IT manufacturer space is that everyone’s going “social.” Computer software and hardware companies, we published last week, are increasingly turning to this form of marketing. Fifty-five percent of them, according to a MarketingSherpa survey, are increasing their social media marketing budgets, with only 5 percent cutting back.

But, what are they hoping to accomplish?

That’s been the unanswered question for IT manufacturers and resellers. Everyone knows that social is the place to be, but few are sure of the reasons why. We’ve always maintained that social media marketing must be integrated into a company’s larger marketing plan and that clear objectives should be defined.

Through enter:marketing’s view of the world, social media marketing is a natural fit for developing contacts and prospects, using content to provide value-added marketing to your targets before you engage them and to build reputation and brand recognition. Also, there are hooks directly into our OnTarget process. So, from a marketing planning and execution standpoint, we see some real opportunities. But, there are other lenses through which to view social media marketing out there.

The latest study from MarketingSherpa shows a variety of objectives for businesses in regards to social media marketing — across three phases of implementation and use: trial, transition and strategic.

For the early stages of social media marketing, the overwhelming goal is to increase website traffic, with 58 percent of respondents seeing value in this. Effectively, this turns social media marketing into an amplifier of the investment you have made in your website. Improved search engine rankings came next, with 42 percent of respondents claiming this goal, reinforcing the importance of early social media marketing in extending the reach of existing online initiatives. Lead generation also gained a considerable amount of attention at 32 percent, with increasing sales revenue garnering 40 percent (respondents could choose more than one).

Through the “transition” phase, the priorities of the social media marketing objectives didn’t change — rather, more respondents signed on to them. Seventy-six percent expect social media marketing efforts to increase website traffic at this stage of implementation, with 53 percent expecting lead generation, 56 percent looking for both more sales revenue and improved search engine rankings.

By the strategic phase, the anticipation of results is salient. Eighty-eight percent expect to see an increase in website traffic, 75 percent for leads, 71 percent for sales revenue increases and 69 percent for search engine rankings.

Interestingly, the softer measures didn’t get much attention. Even by the strategic phase, only 54 percent are looking for an increase in product or brand awareness, with a mere 44 percent expecting to improve public relations. Only 36 percent, at the strategic phase, have improvements to customer support quality as an objective. These, traditionally, have been the social media sweet-spot. So, why aren’t they getting greater responses?

The answer is pretty simple: advantages around brand, PR and customer engagement are already so ingrained in our expectations around social media marketing that it’s hardly worth calling them a priority. The implications are obvious (though sometimes more difficult to attain than many realize). Further, marketing professionals are now treating social media as they do other forms of promotion and engagement — they want results.

Sit back and think about what you expect from your investment in social media marketing. Are you looking for leads? Or, more mileage from your existing online assets? Choose your top three or four objectives, and think about how to accomplish them. This will be the foundation for your social media marketing plan, driving the steps you take to enter this still young but incredibly high-potential marketing environment.