Growth of Social Media

Here is part of an article posted on Social Media Examiner. Click here to read the entire article. It is full of great information on the growth of social media.

A recent study, “The State of Small Business Report,” sponsored by Network Solutions, LLC and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, points to economic struggles as the catalyst for social media’s rapid popularity.

The study results show that social media usage by small business owners increased from 12 percent to 24 percent in just the last year, and almost 1 out of 5 actively uses social media as part of his or her marketing strategy.

Here’s a breakdown of what the small businesses reported as the main uses of social media marketing:

• 75% have a company page on a social networking site
• 69% post status updates or articles of interest on social media sites
• 57% build a network through a site such as LinkedIn
• 54% monitor feedback about the business
• 39% maintain a blog
• 26% tweet about areas of expertise
• 16% use Twitter as a service channel

According to the study, different industries are adopting social media marketing at different rates, and while many industries have started using social media marketing in their efforts to reach more customers, many still have not positioned it as their top priority.

According to the survey, “Professional services firms, real estate businesses and entertainment/food/ lodging businesses rely more on email marketing than other types of small businesses.  Firms in the education/health/social services sector rely more on social media marketing and direct mail.  Not surprisingly, retailers depend more on print and broadcast advertising.”

The report also measured small businesses’ expectations of social media. While 58 percent feel that social media “met expectations,” 12 percent feel it has “exceeded expectations,” while 25 percent feel social media has “fallen short of expectations.”

Some of the reasons given for social media’s shortfalls were:

• 50% feel it has used up more time than expected
• 19% believe social media has lost them money
• 17% feel social media has allowed people to criticize their business

So, how has social media worked for your business? What is the most exciting part? What is the most frustrating part? How many hours a week are you spending on social media sites? How much success have you had integrating social media into your traditional marketing strategy? How do you determine success in social media?