Small Businesses and Social Media

 

The Fall 2011 Attitudes and Outlook Survey by Constant Contact revealed that small businesses are recognizing the value of social media marketing more than ever. Over 2,000 small businesses were surveyed and a whopping 81% reported using social media – this number rose from 73% in the spring survey.
 

 
Infographic by Constant Contact
 
No surprise – Facebook continues to be the social media powerhouse – 96% of those surveyed said they use it. But Twitter is also proving valuable. 60% of those surveyed who use Twitter say that it’s a useful tool for marketing and understanding sentiment of their brand or business.
 
Maybe the most important element – 60% of those surveyed said they communicate in some form with everyone who posts a comment. Commenters provide extremely valuable feedback and give business owners a chance to connect one on-one-with customers or potential patrons.
 
It’s so important for franchisees to have their own social networking pages specific to their location. Corporate fan pages are great, but the way to understand brand sentiment at a local level is to hear what customers are saying who are in the neighborhood, so to speak.
 
Check out our new social media management tool designed especially for franchise systems, FranLocal. It combines local SEO, business reviews and social media to allow franchisors and franchisees alike to understand and control their brand sentiment and really see what’s working. We’d love to tell you more about it. Call us at 888.915.6442 for more information.
 
Social media is here to stay, and small businesses are taking note.