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Small Businesses Cast Their Vote: Facebook & Twitter Win

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 Small Businesses Cast Their Vote: Facebook & Twitter Win

For those marketers out there who have ever found themselves thinking, ‘I should really check out Pinterest’ or ‘I wonder if Google+ would make a nice addition to our social media marketing strategy’ this survey analysis is for you. Read on to find out how other small businesses are using social media to market their business and see how your social media efforts measure up. Thanks to a survey conducted by marketing software company, Vertical Response, you can see what 500 small businesses just like yours are doing with social media.

Facebook & Twitter Are Still Leading the Pack

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According to the survey results, 90% of small businesses are on Facebook, and 70% are on Twitter, while a mere 29% say they use Pinterest and 32% claim to use Google + for marketing.

othersmuse Small Businesses Cast Their Vote: Facebook & Twitter Win

As marketers, we talk about the importance of finding “the right platforms for your brand.” For example, if your business caters to a primarily male audience, you might not be too eager to establish your presence on Pinterest, as it is still made up of predominantly female users. Or if your target market is mostly teenagers, LinkedIn might not be a very high priority for your brand, since the social network is meant for professionals. So this data begs the question:

Why are small-business owners focusing so much on Facebook and Twitter and ignoring LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest?

Well, for starters, Facebook and Twitter are the oldest of the 5 networks, and they have the biggest user base. Facebook recently hit 1 Billion users and recent reports claim that Twitter has surpassed 500 Million users. With such a high volume of users, marketers are bound to find their target market somewhere in the mix.

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Additionally, many business owners had already established their presence on Facebook and Twitter when networks like Google+ and Pinterest were born. According to the survey, 1/3 of CEOs/business owners want to spend less time on social media, so when these new social networks started popping up, business owners were not motivated to start using them, as this would obviously increase the amount of time spent on social media.

Why Not Pinterest?

Excuses aside, why wouldn’t marketers want to use an up-and-coming platform that is guaranteed to drive traffic to your website, like Pinterest? Well, for starters, there’s still no brand-specific platform for businesses. Marketers create the same profile for their company as they would for their personal account. Also, being such a visual network, it’s not inherently useful for B2B or service companies that really don’t have a visual product to offer. Finally, the original “sketchy” terms of service may have scared off some users. Even though they have since been modified to be more user-friendly, some marketers may not be aware of them or may not care to take the risk.

socialceos Small Businesses Cast Their Vote: Facebook & Twitter Win

Why Not Google Plus?

The build-up to the launch of Google+ was epic. People were waiting on bated breath for that coveted invitation to arrive in their inbox. And when it finally did arrive, it didn’t take long for users to toss the network aside like a toy that had lost its luster. Current data shows that 83% of Google+ accounts are inactive. So why the big letdown? Well for one, a social network is only as good as the people using it. If all of your friends are still on Facebook, why would you migrate away from them? Although Google+ hasn’t really taken off like it was expected to, there is somewhat of a cult user base. The social network is particularly popular among male users, but more specifically, “techy” people and “creative types.” So unless your business specifically markets to IT workers and web designers, Google+ is probably not for you.

Finally, Google+ fails to offer a clear value proposition to marketers. Although I’m sure a Google+ fan boy would try, the similarities between Google+ and Facebook are hard to dispute. So in summary, business owners who already feel they spend too much time on social media, are not about to jump ship on Facebook for a social network that offers the same capabilities and a smaller user base.

Social Media Budgets on the Rise

Despite the fact that brands aren’t willing to expand into new social networks, they are willing to dip into their piggy banks and spend more on social media marketing. According to a survey conducted by Wildfire, 75% of marketers planned to increase spending on social media in 2012. So what does this rise in social media spending mean for brands? Well apparently, it means that businesses are seeing more value in what social media provides. A recent survey of business owners shows that 96% feel that social media lifts brand relevance and 84% feel that social conversations drive meaningful business outcomes.

How does your own social media strategy and behavior compare to that of the survey results? Do you find that you are more experimental with new social networks like Pinterest and Google+? If so, do you feel that other brands are missing out by not engaging in a more diverse social strategy?

 Small Businesses Cast Their Vote: Facebook & Twitter Win

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