For organizations trying to  build relationships via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media sites, it can often feel like you’re pushing a boulder up hill. You’re putting forth a lot of time and effort for very little forward movement—sometimes even backsliding.

And make no mistake about it: Social media has gotten harder. It’s more difficult to stand out amongst all the other brands and conversations taking place. It’s more challenging to cut through the noise and make valuable connections. Of course, that’s also true of every other marketing channel.

The good news is there’s still a lot of room for growth and improvement when it comes to social media marketing. Brands are only beginning to scratch the surface of their social potential.

Thirteen Statistics on the Current State of Social Media from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

These insights from the 2015 DMA Fact Book reveal key trends on how businesses and Millennials are using social media today:

1.  73% of all Internet users use social media sites

2.  64% of businesses believe social media offers a strong ROI—and have increased their marketing staff and budget accordingly

3.  77% of businesses list improving brand recognition as their most important social media marketing objective

4.  92% of businesses say increased exposure is the top business benefit of social media

5. 40% of adults access social media through their phones (and that number is rapidly rising)

6. Facebook continues to lead the social marketplace with an overall usage rate of 94%, followed by Twitter (83%) and LinkedIn (71%)

7. 83% of Millennials like a company on Facebook to receive updates from the brand

8. 85% of Millennials follow companies on Twitter to get a coupon or discount

9. 67% of Millennials like a company on Pinterest to research brands when looking for a specific product or service

10. Currently, 9.4% of marketing budgets are spent on social media marketing. That number is expected to jump to 21.4% in five years.

11. 64% of companies use website traffic to gauge social media marketing performance

12. Average amount of weekly time spent on social media by companies:

• 35% one to five hours
• 27% six to ten hours
• 11% eleven to fifteen hours

• 9% sixteen to twenty hours

13. Top three barriers to content marketing:

• 66% staffing/resource constraints
• 60% budget constraints
• 53% time/agility constraints

Creative Differentiation: Moving Your Brand Into a New Phase of Social Media Marketing

Now that most organizations have moved past the acceptance and adoption stages with social media, the next step is honing your message and finding more creative ways to stand out from the pack and connect with consumers.

The key questions your marketing team, leadership and organization as a whole should be asking when it comes to social media:

• Are we on the right social networks for the audiences we want to reach?
• How can we make our social efforts more creative? How can we do things differently?
• How can we better pull people in? How can we be a brand people want to follow?
• How can we stand out from other organizations (especially competitors) on social?

In some cases, the answers to those questions may mean scrapping your current social marketing process entirely and taking a fresh approach from a new perspective.

One of the great challenges of social media is the fact that it’s constantly changing and evolving. But that’s also a great opportunity because it gives you the ability to change, evolve and experiment freely until you push that boulder over the hill.