Small Businesses Spending More On Social Media [Infographic]
Small businesses in the B2B space can learn from a recent VerticalResponse survey summed up nicely by VentureBeat’s John Koetsier, showing 66% of small businesses have invested more on social media marketing activities in 2012 than in 2011.
I think most B2B business owners reading this would find it surprising that over 43% of small businesses spend six or more hours per week blogging, sharing, and tweeting about their business, because I doubt many would even have considered tools like Facebook and Twitter to promote their businesses 18-24 months ago. But things have changed considerably since then, and B2B marketers should glean great insight from this timely survey. It shows that more businesses are more engaged than ever… and for good reason.
After Google’s earlier Panda and Penguin updates raised the bar for quality content and integrated social media with search, there are virtually no shortcuts or tricks that can get you to the front of the SEO bus. Companies must now publish quality content to help their websites sustain any decent search presence. Not only that, companies must also integrate their content with their online communities. Like it or not, Google is leveling the playing field and forcing everyone to be more accountable for their content.
What’s also interesting is that most small businesses are totally dialed into Facebook and Twitter and very little, like 3%-4%, are using LinkedIn and Pinterest to their advantage. This leads me to believe that most of these marketers are still getting their feet wet and going after the path of least resistance. However, keep an eye on Pinterest because I believe you’ll see a massive uptake in Pinterest’s usage in 2013.
“… the number of small businesses that have increased their social media budgets is four times higher than those that have decreased their budgets. So something is definitely working.”
John Koetsier, Writer, VentureBeat
Businesses that engage with and cultivate their social communities are seeing good results, but there is a catch: you have to spend the time to publish useful content. Many small businesses wish that finding and posting content wasn’t such a time consuming activity… boy, do I relate to that!
As always, share your experiences about how business spends on social media below or on Twitter (@SterlingKlor).
