Social Media Marketing Grows Among Small Businesses
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title=Face-to-Face Interactions Still Key}
Although social media marketing efforts are growing, it is not at
the expense of other marketing efforts; in fact, 65 percent report that
social media tools complement other forms of marketing. The survey also
found that 95 percent of participants use email marketing, 98 percent
use Websites, 71 percent use print advertising, 66 percent use online
advertising, and 55 percent use event marketing.
While online tools are clear time- and resource-savers for maxed-out
small businesses, those same small businesses continue to voice the
importance of face-to-face interactions. The survey found 81 percent of
the survey respondents report using face-to-face interactions to
connect with current or prospective customers. Further, 62 percent plan
to host an event in the next twelve months to accomplish that goal and
69 percent see events as an effective way to introduce consumers to
their products and services. In addition, 68 percent see events as an
effective way to find new customers.
"Small businesses want to have face-to-face interactions with
customers and prospects, and event marketing has quickly become a go-to
strategy for small businesses who want to connect in person with their
current or prospective customers--but need an efficient way to get the
work of an event done," said Chris Litster, vice president and general
manager of event marketing for Constant Contact. "Events offer small
businesses a great way to take a relationship that may have started via
email marketing and use an in-person connection to build it into a
long-lasting relationship."
One platform that small businesses have not yet incorporated into
their integrated marketing program is mobile: A full 72 percent of
respondents report that they don't incorporate mobile into their
marketing campaigns, and only 13 percent have created a mobile-friendly
Website.
The Constant Contact-sponsored survey was administered in October
2011 to small business owners and employees. Results include responses
from 1,972 respondents across a range of business-to-business and
business-to-consumer industries. Of the respondents, 87 percent of are
located in the United States and 81 percent of these organizations have
25 or fewer employees.
