The vast majority of small businesses now use social media and view them as critical to the success of their business, according to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, which interviews more than 3,500 US entrepreneurs.
Facebook Dominates the Marketing of SMEs on Social Media
More than 93% of respondents use Facebook as a marketing method, compared to 79% on Twitter. Also, 62% of respondents believe they are increasing their investment in Facebook during the year. Instagram and Pinterest remain the social networks with the best growth, doubling their traffic from 2014 to 2015.
YouTube remains the preserve of big businesses, while 71% of companies with 100 or more employees use it compared to 38% of self-employed workers.
B2B Companies Use Social Media Differently from B2C Companies
LinkedIn is the most used platform for B2B companies, while B2C companies are targeting Facebook to reach the mass of consumers present. This is very logical since B2B companies are primarily looking to reach buyers, marketing people, and other users who use LinkedIn a lot to expand their network of contacts. At the same time, Facebook makes it easy to get the majority of consumers around the world.
Small Businesses Do Not Measure Most Results of Facebook Marketing Efforts
For many small businesses, no effort is made to measure the relevance of Facebook marketing. While 92% of small businesses agree that social media is essential to their business and that most people are marketing to Facebook, the majority have no idea if their marketing efforts on Facebook are giving them anything. Is. The results can be as broad as increased brand recognition or improved customer service. Ultimately, the problem is that many small businesses do not even ask themselves whether the expected results are achieved. Some do it without purpose, which is even worse.
Most small businesses plan to increase their activities on Facebook this year. Even if they are unsure of their effectiveness, most small businesses want to improve their investments on Facebook this year. Even though Facebook has been around since 2006, it is not surprising that most small businesses are still wondering how to use it to make it an effective tool for their business.
Most Small Businesses Spend More Than 6 Hours a Week on Social Media
Because of their many responsibilities, small business owners pay a lot of attention to the time it takes to maintain the various social media in their business. For many companies with 2 to 10 employees, the time spent per week is between 1 and 10 hours, with an average of 6 hours.
Brand recognition is the most important benefit for small businesses.
The effect of getting more visibility via social media is the most significant benefit for small businesses. While this is much more difficult to measure than traffic or bounce rate, small business owners consider it the essential benefit of social media. The other significant benefits, still according to small business owners, are increased website traffic, customer loyalty, and the development of admirers.
The Increase in Website Traffic is a Particularly Important Benefit
A tool like Google Analytics (or any other web analytics tool) will allow you to measure your social media’s impact on your website’s traffic. An important fact is that the greater the use of social media (and the length of time the company uses social media, too), the more significant the impact of increased website traffic. Like most marketing tactics, social media takes time to deliver concrete results.
Social Media Reduces Marketing Spend for Small Businesses
Social media has developed a reputation for reaching a large, low-cost audience. Although since 2014, it has been much more expensive, for example, getting a large audience on Facebook, most small businesses still believe that social media allows them to reduce their marketing expenses.
Direct Sales of SMEs on Social Media Increase Over Time
The goal of any marketing tactic is to increase the number of sales or leads. Measuring sales obtained via social media is still more challenging than, for example, using a Google AdWords campaign or organic SEO. One thing is sure: 70% of companies that have been using social media for more than five years are convinced of the increase in direct sales.
LinkedIn and SlideShare are Underutilized, Especially in B2B
If you are not targeting the public, use LinkedIn and SlideShare immediately to get to know you. Build firm profiles on LinkedIn for your most important employees, join groups on LinkedIn, and be sure to put all your presentations on SlideShare.
Visual Content is Much More Effective
Visual content is much more attractive than text content only. The increase in engagement on Facebook is in the order of 65%, according to Measured. In short, start thinking about video computer graphics and get out of the ordinary.
Finally, SMEs need to be agile when spending their marketing budget, and taking risks on smaller platforms can be very profitable. Your success rate can only increase when all your actions are based on internal data or research. With strong partners who know what they are doing, you can get more than exciting results on social media.
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