Study Shows SMBs Embracing Social Media

ITBusinessEdge: Study Shows SMBs Embracing Social Media

The study, from Zoomerang, shows that many SMBs have caught on to the value of social media – but also shows that many are ignoring the potential of using their websites to attract customers.

“A recent survey from Zoomerang and GrowBiz Media shows that SMB spending on social media is on the upswing. The survey was distributed to 751 businesses with less than 1000 employees, and it asked each business about its marketing budget as well as what tools and technology were used this year. The report is titled, “Small to Midsized Business Marketing Practices Survey 2011,” and can be downloaded in its entirety from here (pdf).

I took a look at the report and below are my key findings:

Adoption of Social Media is on the Upswing

This much is clear: SMBs are adopting social media into their marketing budgets, with 34 percent of those surveyed saying that they employ some form of social media. According to the findings gleaned by the survey, there is also a trend towards increasing the size of marketing budgets allocated to social media. In comparison, slight declines can be observed in the projected budgets for older advertising mediums such as radio and TV shows.”