Source: Opinium Research, commissioned by Hisox, June 2011As a small business owner, I know firsthand that social media is not only an economical way to advertise to my target market, but is also a superior marketing mechanism for many reasons. I am able to track- in real-time, many nuggets of important information like referring URL’s; click-through rates on display advertising; stats for SEO purposes; time spent per page of my website and how individual promotions are performing.
I was therefore shocked upon reading a recent poll conducted by Hiscox, a small business insurance provider, which found that only 12% of small business owners who were polled considered using social media a “must” for their business.
Social media adoption varies greatly by company size according to the study in that 62% of businesses with 50-249 employees use social media for business, compared with 46% of those with 1-9 employees. 50% of respondents said they couldn’t do without word-of-mouth marketing while just 4% said the same about social media marketing.
The irony is that social media encompasses many forms of word-of-mouth marketing indicated by the ‘Likes’ you see on your friends’, colleagues’ and family members’ Facebook pages. In addition, Facebook is now a strong referral source as it is becoming increasingly common for people to post questions such as one I posted last month, “Anyone have any recommendations for a daycare center that offers a foreign language program?”
Of all social media channels, Facebook was deemed the most important for growth followed by LinkedIn at 18%, a company blog at 8% and YouTube at 6%. LinkedIn is often referred to as a professional Facebook because the profiles include education and career information primarily vs. a person’s entertainment, sports and music preferences. Many people use it to network within key industries, search employment and build a repertoire of referrals from former colleagues, managers, mentors and instructors.
Twitter is ideal for establishing credibility as an expert in a subject or field, and gaining ‘followers.’ Whether one owns a Yoga studio or a tutoring facility for adolescent children, tweeting information such as new studies, trends or an article in which the small business owner is showcased asserts his/her credibility and attracts new followers of that information…and future customers.
Like anything else in life, be sure to define your goals before embarking on a social media campaign strategy. 27% of survey respondents use social media to generate brand awareness and 22% to generate sales. A quarter of respondents cited customer service and research individually at 10%, and improve SEO at 5%, as top goals.
Surprisingly, only 11% use social media to promote new offers and promotions which is actually a good thing. The more offers available, the more challenging it becomes for the marketer to cut through the ‘noise’ to gain a prospect’s attention. More importantly, social media is poised for organic marketing meaning that people prefer to seek out and receive information, referrals, etc. from their ‘friends’ or colleagues vs. a hard-core sales pitch.
Traditional marketing will always remain somewhat valuable however social media should be at the top of small business owners’ marketing strategy plans.
This post is brought to you by the good folks at Dale Carnegie Training of Michigan, providers of professional development and management development courses and information in Michigan. We would love to connect with you on Facebook and Twitter @MarkWillDCT.
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