Nov 8, 2012

Small Businesses Invest in Social Media

While it’s hard to say we're surprised, a new survey released Friday revealed small businesses are spending more money and time on social media. VerticalResponse, provider of self-service marketing solutions, says they inquired about how much time small businesses spend on “social media activities, including finding and sharing content on popular social networks and blogging, and what tasks take the most time.” Of the 462 small businesses surveyed, 66 percent said they spend more time on social media now than previous years. In addition, 43 percent said they spend “six or more hours per week on social media activities for their business.” “Our survey confirms that small businesses are understanding the value of social media,” said Janine Popick, chief executive officer and founder of VerticalResponse. “They’re spending more time doing it, and investing more money into it at a faster rate. But the extra work will likely lead to time management issues, especially for the small business owner who’s handling social media on top of all the other responsibilities of running a company.” “This implies that small businesses are in need of tactics and tools now to help them save time,” Popick added. Keeping Popick’s last statement in mind, of the CEOs and owners surveyed, nearly 33 percent said “they’d rather spend less time on social media.” According to the release, the 33 percent would rather focus their time on expanding the business. Although their concerns seem valid, it seems kind of silly to not want to spend more time on social media related activities. After all, with an estimated 1.2 billion Facebook users worldwide and an average of nearly 190 million tweets per day, how can you not say social media is important? Based on these statistics, it seems as if social media is essentially taking over all other marketing techniques. Additional findings include 90 percent of small businesses noting Facebook as their main social media tool. Also, nearly 70 percent use Twitter and 50 percent are on LinkedIn. Meanwhile, only 32 percent reported using Google+ and a meager 29 percent are on Pinterest. While small businesses realize the value of content, they also acknowledge how time-consuming it can be. According to the findings, 43 percent publish a blog post at least once a week, 45 percent spend one to three hours to create a post and 16 percent spend more than three hours. Amongst learning and education, analyzing social media efforts and competitor’s activities, respondents said that “finding and posting content to their social networks are the most time-consuming” activity. Regardless of its time consumption, 36 percent of respondents said they paid for social media publishing and analytics tools, while 22 percent reported an increase in their social media budget. What the survey did not discuss was the impact a Company's website and other online attributes have on its Social Media presence. For a more comprehensive understanding and some hands-on direction, reach out to NewtekOne, The Small Business Authority today.