THE SOCIAL MEDIA

REVOLUTION FOR

SMALL BUSINESSES

SMBs around the world look to increase social participation across the board

The biggest change in small-business marketing over
the past five years is the rise of digital media—
and especially the jump in importance of social to
SMB marketing. Consumer-facing firms especially
report benefitting from social efforts, and SMBs around
the world plan to increase efforts on virtually every
social channel.

Digital media have changed life in countless ways over

the past few decades, and small-business owners have felt

the effects as well. Asked in May 2013 by small-business

marketing solutions provider Constant Contact about the

ways doing business had changed in the past five years,

more than a quarter were using more automated business

solutions, and a whopping 84% were using more online

marketing tools.

Overall, the most common marketing tool used by

respondents was email, which was up 34 percentage

points over usage levels five years previously. But social

media marketing had skyrocketed from 10% of small

business to 87% in the same time period, the largest

increase by far for any digital marketing technique.

Social Media Examiner queried small-business marketers

around the world in January about how social media

helped their business: 89% cited increased exposure, 75%

increased traffic and 69% new marketplace insights. While

a relatively small 43% could say social media marketing

had definitely improved sales, a host of other benefits

including reduced marketing expenses, lead generation and

better search rankings were also mentioned.

The survey found the greatest increase in platform use

planned for YouTube and other online videos, followed

closely by Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter. Most

small businesses still had no plans to use channels like

podcasts, social bookmarking, geolocation, Q&A sites or

daily deals.

% of respondents

Leading Marketing Tools Used by US Small Businesses

Now vs. Five Years Ago, May 2013

Email marketing

64%

98%

Online directories

21%

36%

Event marketing

20%

44%

Social media marketing

10%

87%

5 years ago

Now

Source: Constant Contact, "Small Business Then and Now," June 17, 2013

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October 2013

Social Media Examiner also found the social marketing

needs of small businesses varied heavily based on whether

the businesses were consumer-facing or B2B. B2C

respondents said the most important social media tool for

them was Facebook, at 67%. By comparison, just 29%

of B2B small-business marketers chose Facebook, and

an equal number chose LinkedIn. B2Bs were also more

likely than B2Cs to report using LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs,

Google+ and forum sites, while B2Cs were more focused

on Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.

■

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% of respondents

Change in the Use of Select Social Media Tools/

Platforms According to SMB Marketers Worldwide,

Jan 2013

Increase

Stay the same

Decrease

No plans to utilize

Note: in the near future; numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Source: Social Media Examiner, "2013 Social Media Marketing Industry

Report," May 21, 2013

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YouTube/video

69% 17% 1%

13%

Facebook

66%

28% 3%

4%

Blogs

66%

17% 1%

15%

LinkedIn

65%

21% 1%

13%

Twitter

64%

26% 2%

8%

Google+

53%

19% 1%

26%

Pinterest

51%

16% 1%

32%

Photo-sharing sites

38%

16% 1%

46%

Forums

29%

22% 1%

47%

Podcasts

24%

12% 1%

63%

Social bookmarking

17%

17% 1%

65%

Geo-location

16%

18%

2%

65%

Q&A sites

14%

11% 1%

74%

Daily deals

7%

11%

2%

80%

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