Thursday, October 15, 2009

Nearly Half of Small Businesses Surveyed Have Profiles on Facebook and Twitter

Survey reveals a new class of small business owners, 45 percent of whom use
social media to promote their businesses online
SAN FRANCISCO--(Business Wire)--
A new online survey of more than 2,000 US small business by Internet2Go, an Opus
Research advisory service, and MerchantCircle, the largest social network for
small businesses has uncovered a new, growing segment of small business owners
who aggressively use social media to promote their businesses. The survey,
conducted September 8-18, 2009, found that roughly 45 percent of respondents
have a presence or profiles on Facebook and Twitter to promote their businesses.
The survey targeted the most frequent content-publishers among MerchantCircle`s
small business members.

"We've known anecdotally that small businesses are using social media sites like
Facebook and Twitter but these numbers are surprising," said Greg Sterling,
senior analyst Internet2Go. "The conventional wisdom is that SMBs are
unsophisticated but they're adopting social media tools en masse it appears,
because there are fewer barriers to entry than other forms of online marketing."


The survey presented a broad range of questions about traditional and online
marketing and asked SMBs to indicate the relative effectiveness of different
media they were using to promote their businesses. Survey respondents are in
many respects typical of the broader SMB market (i.e., marketing budgets,
headcount) but in other ways this population represents a more "engaged" segment
of small businesses.

Other survey findings include the following:

* 79% of respondents report annual marketing budgets of less than $5,000 per
year with the 44% spending "less than $1,000" annually on advertising and
marketing
* 80% of respondents have four or fewer employees
* Asked about their "biggest complaint" regarding online marketing the top two
were "too costly" (26%) and "there's not enough time to do it well and still run
a business" (15.9%)
* 75% said they monitor online reviews of their business. The most common method
was by visiting specific review websites (47%) and by searching on their
business name (44%)
* Despite its popularity social media showed the biggest gap between SMB
adoption and perceived effectiveness as a marketing platform.

"We believe the behavior exhibited by these small business owners is a
pre-cursor of things to come - that small business owners will increasingly
forgo expensive advertising options and embrace publishing their unique content
across various social media outlets," said Darren Waddell vice president and
MerchantCircle. "While MerchantCircle typically focuses on helping businesses
get online for the first time, we are excited to be an important part of the
social media strategies employed by this new segment of merchants."

About the Survey:

The survey was fielded online, between September 8 - 18, 2009, and sent to
MerchantCircle's active member base. An incentive was offered to complete the
survey (additional services from MerchantCircle worth approximately $50). There
were 2,591 total survey responses, with 2,403 qualifying as "small business"
defined as having fewer than 100 employees. Active MerchantCircle members are
those that have done one or more of the following: created an enhanced profile,
uploaded pictures, created a blog, coupons and newsletters and/or connected with
other merchants through the MerchantCircle website.

About Internet2Go

Internet2Go is an Opus Research Advisory Service that tracks the growth and
development of the Mobile Internet, and related consumer and advertiser
behavior, business models and infrastructure to support it. Opus Research,
founded in 1986, is an authority on conversational access technologies and
markets. Senior Analyst Greg Sterling is also founder of Sterling Market
Intelligence, focusing on the Internet`s impact on local consumer and advertiser
behavior. www.internet2go.net.

About MerchantCircle

Founded in 2005, MerchantCircle is the largest network of local business owners
in the nation, combining social networking features with a customizable web
listing that allows local merchants to attract new customers. More than 15
million MerchantCircle business listings across the country are easily accessed
on major search engines. Currently, over 925,000 merchants on the MerchantCircle
network upload pictures, blog, create coupons and newsletters, and connect with
other merchants.

MerchantCircle is located on Main St. in downtown Los Altos, Calif., and is
funded by Rustic Canyon Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Disney`s Steamboat
Ventures, and IAC. Learn more at www.MerchantCircle.com.

Internet2Go
Pete Headrick, 415-904-7666
pheadrick@opusresearch.net
or
MerchantCircle
Kevin Leu, 858-361-4407
Kevin@MerchantCircle.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009

Posted via email from Yellow Door Media

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