A new survey conducted by Citibank shares some disheartening news: “Few U.S. small businesses have adopted social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter for business uses.”
The survey states that “three-quarters of small businesses say they have not found sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn helpful for generating business leads or expanding business.” (The survey was done with 500 U. S. businesses with under 100 employees each.)
I admit to being dismayed by the small number, but not necessarily surprised. To quote Maria Veltre, executive vice president of Citi’s Small Business segment…
“What this survey indicates to us is small businesses are very, very focused on running their business and on generating sales and managing their cash flow and doing the things that are really important, especially in these economic times…I don’t think quite yet the social media piece of it has proven to be as significant.“
“Proven.” That’s the keyword and the issue at stake. Small businesses are sticking with that which is trusted. For example, according to the survey:
- 42 percent of small businesses have made greater use of their company websites to generate business leads and sales
- 19 percent were doing more advertising to attract new customers in the economic downturn
- 28 percent were using more email marketing
- 25 percent using more online advertising to generate business leads and sales
You can’t blame them really. When times are tough, most stick with the tried-and-true. Email has long proven itself to be a cost-effective means of marketing, as has search (SEO and PPC). More online marketing dollars are spent on those forms of media than any other.
Proving the Case for Social Media Marketing
It is not without merit that the sub-title of my new book, The Digital Handshake, is “Seven PROVEN Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media.” The book is replete with examples and case studies of companies large and small who are successfully using social media to affect their bottom line.
With a title like that, it is incumbent upon me to prove that this medium does indeed work. That is going to be the focus of my efforts over the next few months. I’m going to:
- Blog about the case studies included in the book
- Find examples of other small businesspeople who are using these tools successfully and blog about them
- Re-kick start the What’s Working Wiki so that people can post their own success stories or those of others
Let me end with a short story.
A shoe salesman is assigned a new territory, some islands in the south Pacific. He gets to one such island and finds that everyone is barefoot. He calls his boss and says, “We can never be successful here. No one wears shoes.”
Needless to say, he is quickly replaced by another, more optimistic salesman. He shows up at the same island, calls his boss and says, “Send me 1,000 pair today! We’re going to do great. No one here wears shoes!”
This stuff works folks. I bank my entire career on it! So, in response to Citibank’s survey, I say: “No one here is using social media? Send me 1,000 blogs! We’re gonna do great!”
NOTE: Read this response to the survey findings from Read Write Web.
It’s true that small business owners have it tough juggling all the responsibilities that several others do in larger companies, Paul. But, social media can surprise people with its results. My personal experience includes a six-month contract consulting for an east-coast company – and all as a result of the owner finding me on LinkedIn. You just never know…
Yes, it is very true. But, investing in social media is important. If the right strategy is decided, it can really be beneficial for business. I have seen the results through my clients!
Very much looking forward to actual examples as they are far-n-few between from what I can see.
So true what you say about the shoe salesman. I believe that we all have the potential to be successful in business. We just need to figure out what we already know.
Great information. Just what social media enthusiasts need in these times of social media platform explosion and online marketing innovation.
I think you can find business thru social media. I think many small businesses are just starting to get into internet marketing. Getting just one lead from the internet can make you a believer.
There is a saying about the nail that sticks up is first to get hammered down.
I think this attitude is pervasive when it comes to the adoption of social media.
Don’t try anything new…it might not work
I think the most important thing to remember here is measuring marketing performance (MP), and that goes for “proven” or social media marketing. A recent study by CMG Partners was released, and it noted that only 25% of 400 companies researched had any effective MP in place to gauge their ROI on any marketing initiative. I think social media is definitely a great medium but a plan and proper metrics are required to ensure buy-in from relevant decision makers within the company.
Thanks for write up on this topic…let’s keep it going.
You have to start by defining your marketing goals and objectives and determining where the target market you wish to reach resides. More and more they are on social network sites like Facebook and Twitter. It stands to reason then, that over the course of time, these numbers will change.
I have seen personally positive results from using social media for business. There is a large opportunity of the business uses social media correctly, and allow enough time for the results.
Dr. George said it…there is a large opportunity of the business uses social media correctly… Correctly being the operative word. Many small business people don’t know how to use these social media and taking the time to learn, research and write takes a lot away from “doing business.”
Thank you very much. I am wonderring if I can share your article in the bookmarks of society,Then more friends can talk about this problem.
The shoe salesman story is very similar to what happened to me today.
I suggested adding a video to YouTube to promote a product for a company. The response from the sales director was ‘unexcited’ to say the least, and full of excuses why he thought it would be pointless.
The killer response was when he tested a few searches in YouTube that were related to the target audience for this product and nothing similar came up. To which he replied “see, nothing, no videos for this product”
My response: Great, so we’ll have the market all to ourselves, at least until competitors catch-on”!!!
I couldn’t agree with you more. I see small business owners using our service daily to effectively market themselves via social media. It’s not always the easiest metric to track, but it’s definitely worthwhile.
I remember seeing these survey results myself last week and thinking how great for me! I am co-owner of a new start-up that is helping small businesses grow by doing their tweeting for them. Basically like our slogan says, We Tweet For You! The individuals that we have talked to have not seen results from their social media labors or they may not even know how to get started. There is a strategy to it and if you don’t get it then you will waste many, many hours with no fruit from your labors. We get it and that is why we are successfully helping others.
I look forward to reading your book and following your blog.
[...] and more, social media is proving its worth from a PR standpoint, as well as in generating revenue. Certainly, we’re still in the [...]