Social Media Usage by Small Businesses

Social Media is in a very interesting stage of it’s life in terms of how it is used by different businesses and organizations. It’s growth is undeniable but the level of usage varies across the board. Many companies have jumped in. Some are showing great profits, others just see it as a good “brand” play, while others are skeptical just dipping their toes and seeing what happens. It reminds me where SEM and SEO was just 6-7 years ago when businesses would hire interns to figure it out for them. But look where online marketing is now…

A full fledged social media play may not be for everyone, but no matter what business or organization you run, there is great benefit of using this medium to interact with your customer. Whether it is to drive sales, gain brand exposure, to get feedback from customers, or perhaps to lower cost of customer service, there is numerous ways social media is being used with great results. See this nifty little video below:

Social Media Is Becoming More Important

Michael Stelzner has released his third annual social media study that surveys 3342 marketers, half of whom are small business owners. Here are a few key points found in the study:

• Important: 90% say social media is important to their business
• Increased Exposure: 88% of social media marketers found social media increases their exposure
• Increased Traffic & Subscriptions: 72% of social media marketers found increased traffic and subscriptions
• New Partnerships: 56% reported gaining new partnerships via social media
• Improved Sales: 48% of small business owners saw improved sales as a direct result of social media efforts
• Reduction in Marketing Costs: Small Business Owners were more likely than others to see reduction in marketing costs due to social media marketing
• Get Qualified Leads: Small Business owners twice as likely to find qualified leads via social media efforts
• Video Marketing: 77% of marketers plan on increasing their YouTube and Video Marketing.
• Facebook Still King: 92% of marketers are using Facebook, 75% plan on increasing their activities

Time Equals Money in Social Media

This report also showed that the more time businesses invested in social media, the higher the success rate. For example:

• 80% of those with 3+ years of experience in social media marketing report forming new partnerships. (25% for less than 3 years)
• Those who spend 6+ Hours per week are TWICE as likely to generate social media leads as those spending less than 5 Hours per week.

Download the Full Report Here: Social Media Marketing Report 2011

Social Media on Clean Cut Media

For the curious, Clean Cut Media has both a Facebook and a Twitter Account.

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For Clean Cut Media, Facebook is the second largest referral of traffic after Google. Our readers have been gracious enough to post our articles on their walls (thanks it really helps!).

• Let us know if you found social media helpful for your business or organization.
• What has worked well, and not well?