The American Express OPEN “Small Business Monitor” spring 2011 edition found the use of social media networking for online marketing has risen to 35% among US small businesses (less than 100 employees), as reported by eMarketer.
44% of US small businesses now use social media tools ‘to promote their business to new customers’ (up from 39% in Sept 2010) and their efforts focus mainly on the top 3 social networking sites:
- 35% use Facebook (up from 27% six months ago)
- 15% use LinkedIn (up from 9% six months ago)
- 10% use Twitter
- 8% blog
- 8% use YouTube (doubled from 4% six months ago)
- just 2% use Foursquare
Many small businesses may be slow to adopt social media because they’re unsure of how to proceed – when asked which person would most help their business, nearly one-in-ten (9%) said a social media expert.
American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor is released every spring and fall, and based on a nationally representative sample of 728 small business owners/managers of companies with under 100 employees. The survey was conducted via telephone from February 22- March 9, 2011.
