path to influence: a study of smbs and social media

Path to Influence: An Industry Study of SMBs and Social Media

A study on how SMBs are using social media

I. Summary of Key Statistics

II. Study Methodology

III. Setting the Stage

a. Study Demographics

b. Perceptions of Social Media

c. Paths to Social Media Influence

IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull

b) Where SMBs Engage

c) Is Social Media Working?

V. People, Budgets and Tools

VI. Measures and Metrics

VII. Barriers to Social Media

VIII. The Future Outlook

IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

o Social media is helpful: 87% of SMBs say social media has been somewhat helpful or helped a great deal; 10% said it

had no effect.

o Perception of influence varies: 40% of SMBs prefer a smaller but highly engaged audience; 27% would prefer a huge

following with little engagement.

o Healthy share of marketing efforts: 77% of SMBs indicate social media accounts for 25% or more of their total marketing

efforts.

o Sharing is common use: The most common use of social media is to share information 91%; only 46% see social media

as a place to handle customer service issues.

o Facebook ubiquity: Facebook is the most commonly used social media platform with 73% reporting they currently use it.

o Google+ has potential: Just 7% of SMBs plan to use Facebook in the future; more SMBs plan to use Google+, Instagram

and Pintrest than any other social media site.

o “Free” is a barrier: The perception that social media is “free” is the most prominent barrier to SMBs use of social media.

o Doubling up on duties: 73% of SMBs have added social media to the existing duties of a marketing person.

o Average spend: SMBs use a median of three different software tools to manage social media and

spend $845 per month.

o Spending set to rise: 84% of SMBs plan to increase their use of social media at least a little in the future.

Summary of Key Statistics

Vocus teamed with Duct Tape Marketing to commission a survey 400 decision makers at small- and

medium-sized business (SMBs) and organizations. The survey was conducted from July 18th to July

28th by an independent third-party research firm and has a confidence interval of +/- 4.9%.

Respondents were screened with the following criteria:

o Must be a corporation, non-profit or government agency

o Annual revenues between $5 million and $50 million

o No more than 1,000 employees

o Have a role in marketing decisions

o Organization must have an existing web presence

Study Methodology







IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull







IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

Study Demographics

32%

28%

41%

You are the sole decision-maker

More than one decision-maker but you have the final say

You make recommendations but are not involved in the final decision

The goal of this survey was to answer the following general

questions:

• What social media sites/tools are businesses using?

• What activities are businesses engaging in via social

media?

• What steps have businesses taken to manage social

media use?

• How do businesses measure success with social

media?

• What challenges are businesses facing when it comes

to using social media?

Survey goals

Perceptions of Social Media

29%

58%

10%

0%

HELPED a great deal

HELPED somewhat

No Effect

HURT

How Helpful has Social Media Been?

Social Media has helped to increase our annual sales, as we have more capability to reach out to more potential customers. Social media also gives us insight on our customers demands and requirements.

It has allowed us to promote our products to people we may not have been able to reach normally and allowed us to let others know when we have last minute deals and events going on that would not have been worth the time without these outlets .

We have used Facebook to reach out to our members. We try to keep up with our postings, but at present, we do not have a dedicated staff member for that job. We have had good results with the interaction we have had so far.

Limited use of social media and so far very limited positive results.

Most SMBs feel social media has helped their organizations. A clear majority believe social media has been

somewhat either helpful or somewhat helpful. Those that say social media is not helpful also say they’ve

invested little effort. Social media is hard work and you get out of it what you put into it.

Paths to Social Media Influence

40%

27%

27%

7%

Approach to Building Influence

We don’t mind a smaller base of followers or

fans on social media but they should be

people who regularly engage with our

organization through social media, respond to

most calls to action, and proactively post or share

information about our organization with others.

We don’t need a huge following, but we want a

large number of followers or fans on social

media who might occasionally respond to calls

to action or promote our organization to others.

We want a very large number of followers or

fans on social media but don’t mind if there is

little or no on-going interaction or further

promotion of the organization.

Not sure.

A perennial question in social media: does the size of a

following matter? The fascination with a large following is

a hard spell to shake.

While a majority of SMBs favor an approach of quality over

quantity, including a plurality who prefer very engaged

followers, nearly a third prioritize the number of followers

over their level of engagement.

Another third is split down the middle. These differences

can result in very different approaches to social media use.


46%

51%

32%

39%

35%

42%

42%

35%

28%

26%

24%

24%

23%

35%

13%

13%

34%

34%

38%

27%

17%

$5 mil. to less than $15 mil.



$30 mil. +

B2C

B2B

B2G

Organizational Characteristics

Smaller base of people who regularly engage.

Medium following who might occasionally respond

Very large number/don’t mind if there is little interaction.

The larger a business is, the more inclined it is

to believe that a larger following is better. This

likely reflects the challenge of scale – as a

business grows and is challenged to keep up

with the volume in terms of support, service and

marketing.

Smaller organizations, perhaps because of the

more intimate relationships with customers are

more concerned with engaging their audience.

B2B organizations, and those that market to the

government, tend to favor a smaller more highly

engaged audience. B2B marketers know that

businesses are made up of people, the sales

cycles tend to be longer, the deals larger, and

relationships with people are critical to those

sales.

B2C organizations are split between the desire

for large social media followings and

engagement.


Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful No difference

Small/engaged base 19% 68% 11%

Medium/somewhat engaged base 21% 64% 15%

Large/unengaged base 55% 41% 2%Pat

h t

o In

flu

en

ce

An amazing result of this study is the a cross tab analysis shows those who are aiming to build a large but unengaged

base are most likely to feel that social media is helpful. In fact more than half said “very helpful.” Those SMBs focused

one engagement are inclined to believe social media has been “somewhat helpful.” Forty percent of SMBs in the B2C

category, which is the segment most focused on building a large but unengaged following, are most likely to find social

media very helpful.







IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull







IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

Current Use: Push vs. Pull

4%

43%

15%

15%

4%

0% 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%

Share of Marketing Mean

$5 million to less than $15

million24%


million27%


million34%

$30 million + 35%

B2C 38%

B2B 30%

B2G 30%

Social media accounts for a substantial share of SMB’s marketing activities – the mean average was 32% or about one-third of SMB efforts. Interestingly enough, the larger the organization, the greater the role of social media in the marketing mix.


91%

90%

81%

70%

69%

43%

75%

67%

60%

56%

46%

Share news about your organization

Share news about new products or …

Promote content we have posted …

Increase or optimize your presence …

Advertise sales or special …

Hold contests

Solicit feedback from customers …

Monitor mentions of your …

Organize in-person events

Organize online events

Handle customer service issues

Does your organization use social media to…?

Start spreading the news, because that’s the number one activity for SMBs on social media. Social media is seen in large

part as another channel for communication. This finding was nearly uniform across B2B, B2C and B2G organizations. B2C

businesses, interestingly enough, especially given some of this segment’s tendency to prefer large unengaged

followings, participated in a more varied list of activities through social media, including pull methods. While businesses

use it to solicit customer feedback, most (less than 50%) do not see it as a mechanism for handling customer service

issues.

B2C B2B B2G

91% 90% 89%

93% 92% 95%

87% 78% 79%

75% 74% 79%

77% 68% 70%

54% 41% 36%

81% 75% 75%

72% 69% 79%

65% 58% 63%

66% 53% 61%

59% 48% 52%


74%

61%

57%

52%

51%

Build marketing lists of customers/clients reachable through

social media

Engage in one-on-one dialogue with customers/clients by directing

messages or comments to them or …

Contact customers/clients in conjunction with a CRM (customer relationship management) system

Follow a customer’s/client’s account on a social media site

Discuss, investigate, or resolve customer service issues

Does your organization use social media to…?B2C B2B B2G

79% 78% 84%

70% 63% 61%

68% 59% 70%

55% 60% 63%

64% 49% 54%

But it’s not all push. Most SMBs are using social media to interact and engage with customers or

clients in some way. This is in addition to seeing their social media audience as a marketing list.

This is true for B2B and B2G organizations, as well as B2C.

Current Use: Where SMBs engage

73%

61%

55%

47%

44%22%

20%

20%

19%

19%

19%

15%11%

11%

10%

9%9%

9%

9%

8%

7%

9%

13%

11%

14%

9%

10%

10%

19%

12%

13%

12%

10%

11%

13%

11%

9%

7%

8%

11%

13%

9%

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

YouTube

Google+

Blogger

Pinterest

MySpace

WordPress

Foursquare

Flickr

Instagram

Vimeo

Tumblr

Meetup

StumbleUpon

Posterous

Delicious

Reddit

Digg

Quora

Current and Past Use of Social Media SitesCurrently Use Used in Past

As Facebook approaches one billion users, there’s

little surprise it tops the chart as the most often

used social media platform. LinkedIn, which is

publically trade, Twitter and YouTube also likely

candidates for ranking high given their ubiquity in

the social space.

Google+ stands out as in the fifth spot, first

because this suggests is it more commonly used

then the public criticism of the platform might

suggest. That Google also owns YouTube should

not be underrated, especially since Google has

actively worked on integrations. For example that

video chats conducted in Google Hangouts can be

broadcast live on a YouTube channel.

MySpace sees nearly as many SMBs currently

using the platform as have used it in the past.

Though the network is a shell of it’s former self, it

still has a strong base in music and arts.

Pintrest of course has enjoyed a dramatic rise –

and equally dramatic headlines of late.

FourSquare, because of it’s geo-location “check in”

capability is more suited to brick-and-mortar

companies.

Current Use: Is Social Media Working?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Use vs. Helpfulness

Foursquare

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

YouTube

Google+

Blogger

Pinterest

MySpace

WordPress

Flickr

Instagram

StumbleUpon

Current Use

He

lpfu

lne

ss(%

rat

ed 5

)

The top three social platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – also see the highest ratings in terms of helpfulness.

More than half of SMBs say they are using these top three sites. However, there are two notable sites that stand out

Google+ which 47% of SMBs say they use, and StumbleUpon, where 9% of SMBs say they are using also receive

notably outstanding marks in terms of effectiveness.







IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull







IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

People, Budgets and Tools

12%

34%

12%16%

26%

1 2-3 4-5 6+ Not sure

# of Software/Online Tools Used

44%

32%

24%

<$1000 $1000+ Not sure

Monthly Spending on Social Media Management

Tools

Median: 3 tools

Median: $845

36%

36%

28%

22%

Software or an online tool that you pay for

Free software or online tool

Do not use any software or online

tools to manage social media communications

We have hired outside consultants to help

with social media and I am not aware of what

tools they may or …

On average SMBs are using three different software tools to manage their social media efforts – though 28% use four

or more tools. The median monthly investment on software tools is $845 per month. It’s also noteworthy that 28% say

they are not using any software tools and another 22% rely on consultants, who are perhaps more likely to have

already invested in software tools for social media management. As we’ll see on the next page, the most common step businesses take to manage social media is simply to add it to the list of existing duties of marketing employees.

People, Budgets and Tools

73%

72%

64%

54%

49%

49%

43%

42%

41%

38%

Added social media mgmt to the duties of someone/people involved in marketing

Looked at how similar organizations use social media

Added social media mgmt to the duties of someone involved in managing your organization

Attended a FREE presentationon social media best practices

Hired a new employee with experience or expertise in using social media

Created an internal social media team

Hired staff specifically to manage social media

Hired an outside consultant or agency to advise you

Received training from company who provides your organization with a paid software tool for managing social media

Attended a PAID presentation on social media best practices for organizations like yours'

What Additional Steps has Your Organization Taken?







IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull







IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

Measures and Metrics

76%

70%

67%

63%

60%

57%

57%

56%

51%

51%

49%

48%

42%

Increased traffic to your organization’s website from social media …

Number of new customers/clients who mention hearing about your …

Number of “Likes”, followers, etc.

Number of people following those who “Like” or follow your …

Increase in revenue or sales following implementation of new social …

Number of comments/posts mentioning, tagging, or hash-tagging your …

Average number of comments, shares, posts or other interaction …

More or higher priority links in search engine results

Number of comments/posts mentioning your organization compared to …

Number of shares, retweets, etc.

Demographic make-up of your followers

Increase in foot-traffic to a brick-and-mortar location following …

Number of conversions

Metrics Used for Social Media

The metrics SMBs use to measure their social media efforts are varied. Across the board, SMBs are focused on

tangible results, such as increased web traffic and new customers gained from social media efforts, rather than

simply the number of social shares (i.e. “likes”) and size of their following. The larger the company, the more likely it

is to conduct more complex data analysis such as demographics and conversations.

Measures and Metrics

This chart compares current use to the usefulness of the metric and reinforces SMBs focus on desired outcomes.

Metrics such as sales and increased foot traffic score high among SMBs in terms of usefulness but are not as

widely adopted because of the challenge of tying sales directly to social media efforts.

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80%

Metric Use vs. Usefulness

Current Use

Use

fuln

ess

(% r

ated

5)

# of LIkes

# of shares/retweets

Increased traffic to website

# of conversions # of comments/ posts mentioning org.

Secondary audience sizeAvg. # of interactions w/

follower

Increase in revenue/salesIncrease in foot traffic

# of new customers mentioning social media

# of comments/posts compared to competitors







IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull







IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

Barriers to Social Media Success

12%

11%

10%

10%

10%

10%

9%

8%

8%

8%

8%

7%

6%

43%

37%

30%

29%

33%

34%

26%

26%

28%

28%

24%

20%

23%

People think of social media as “free” but really it costs a great …

Unhappy customers/clients can publicly voice complaints

We don’t have the right expertise in-house

We can’t control who we reach or target to the audience we …

So many social media options/ difficult to know which are the …

Using social media makes problems or negative incidents more …

The person/people who have final say do not see the value of …

Gives us less control over our brand image

The person/people who have final say will not allot sufficient …

Different sites have their own programming language, so we need …

Our message gets lost or distorted

Using social media for quite a while but haven’t been able to grow …

Don’t know what content is best

Barriers to Social Media UseRated 5, Major Problem Rated 4

A third of SMBs consider at least one of these issues a major problem for their organizations. While only 36% of SMBs

rated one of these issue as a 5 – a major problem – 75% rate at least one as a 4 or a 5. This indicates while none of

the barriers listed is a single major problem across all SMBs, the accumulation of many secondary problems can lead to

frustration. It’s noteworthy that the highest rated barrier is the perception that social media is “free” when in fact it

requires a substantial investment of time, and in many cases budget.

Barriers to Social Media Success

Coordinating a total business "look" or feel between all the different media. It would be nice not to have to reinvent the wheel each time we create a new outlet. Would also be nice if all venues could be somehow "linked" so each social media outlet is not a separate entity.

A person in management who does not believe in it or understand it, the amount of time it takes, having marketing employees to manage, generating content for the social media sites, knowing if/when to spend money on social media ventures.

The challenge has been how to deal with unhappy customers and negative posts about company services. We try and keep communication to have excellent customer service and provide constant feedback.

It has been good in allowing us to connect with some people but it has been difficult to turn those connections etc. into more work or expanding our clientele directly through the social media. It seems to help in showing off our work but it is difficult to gauge how effective it is at generating new leads

Mostly the challenge is building an audience that is consistently engaging. We know how many followers we have, but it seems like only 10% or so are actually interacting with the content.

SMBs on barriers to social media success in their own words…







IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull







IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

The Future Outlook

39%

45%

14%

1% 1%Future Plans for Social Media

Increase use of social media A LOT

Increase use of social media A LITTLE

Keep social media use about the same

Decrease use of social media A LITTLE

Not sure

Helped great deal

Helped somewhat No diff.

Increase use of social

media A LOT78% 29% 8%

Increase use of social

media A LITTLE17% 57% 41%

Keep social media use

about the same5% 14% 44%

Decrease use of social

media A LITTLE- 0% 3%

Decrease use of social

media A LOT- - -

Overall 84% of SMBs plan to increase their spend on

social media – the pie chart below breaks this number

out between what percentage plan to spend a lot, and

what percentage plan to spend a little. Not surprisingly,

as the grid to the right indicates, 78% SMBs that said

social media has helped a great deal, plan to increase

their spending a lot.

Just MORE:• Use more sites• Share more• Engage more

Resource Allotment• Hire more help• Spend more time• Increase investment

Future Plans Fall into two Categories

The Future Outlook

14%

14%

13%

12%

12%

11%

11%

11%

11%

10%

10%

10%

9%

9%

9%

9%

8%

8%

7%

7%

5%

Google+

Instagram

Pinterest

Reddit

Tumblr

Foursquare

Flickr

Blogger

Twitter

Vimeo

Meetup

StumbleUpon

Quora

YouTube

LinkedIn

Digg

Posterous

Delicious

WordPress

Facebook

MySpace

Social Media Sites Planning to Use in Next YearGoogle+ and photo sharing sites Instagram

and Pinterest top the charts as the social

platforms SMBs plan to invest. That

Instagram is an area for growth is good

news for Facebook, which with the

exception of MySpace, has the lowest

projection of growth.







IV. Current Use

a) Push vs. Pull







IX. Conclusions

Table of Contents

Conclusions

o The challenges and the realities of social media• SMBs that found social media helpful are the most aware of the challenges associated with its use.

• Top challenge with social media: it isn’t really “free” when it comes to time and effort

o What you give is what you get• SMBs that see little or no benefit from social media also haven’t devoted much effort.

• Those that see no gains give up easily.

• SMBs that put in the effort, get results and plan to expand their use of social media.

o SMBs are divergent on their path to social media influence• Those seeking only a large online presence without engagement find social media the most helpful.

• The capability to engage just a small fraction of their community is a concern cited by many place and emphasis on engagement.

o Challenges with social media vary but frustration adds up• Most don’t say any are “major” problems, but the vast majority see at least one of the tested

barriers as a moderate problem.

• Many small problems can add to major frustration when insufficient resources are devoted to social media to begin with.

o SMBs are using many metrics to measure results but are most focused on tangibles• SMBs are tracking many different metrics.

• SMBs are focused on how many new customers they are earning

• Sales tied specifically to social media use was a key metric SMBs are measuring

John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, award winning social media publisher

and bestselling author Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine. He is the

creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System and Duct Tape Marketing Consulting

Network that trains and licenses small business marketing consultants around

the world. His blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for marketing and small

business and his podcast, a top ten marketing show on iTunes, was called a

“must listen” by Fast Company magazine. He is the featured marketing

contributor to American Express OPENForum and is a popular presenter of

workshop and webinars for organizations such as American

Express, Intuit, Verizon, HP, and Citrix. His practical take on small business is

often cited as a resource in publications such as the Wall St. Journal, New York

Times, and CNNMoney.

Frank Strong is director of PR for Vocus, which also owns

PRWeb, iContact, Help-A-Reporter-Out and North Social. He's worked in PR for

13 years and cut his teeth in the agency world, while working for firms large and

small. He specialized in technology and the VC-backed start-up community. He's

served for nearly 20 years in the reserve components of the military and has

deployed twice. He holds a BA in communications from Worcester State, an MA

in public communication from American University and an MBA from Marymount

University.

About Authors

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/

http://www.vocus.com/content/index.asp

http://www.prweb.com/

http://www.icontact.com/

http://www.helpareporter.com/







http://northsocial.com/

About Vocus

Vocus is a leading provider of cloud marketing software that helps businesses reach and

influence buyers across social networks, online and through media. Vocus provides an

integrated suite that combines social marketing, search marketing, email marketing and

publicity into a comprehensive solution to help businesses attract, engage and retain

customers. Vocus software is used by more than 120,000 organizations worldwide and is

available in seven languages. Vocus is based in Beltsville, MD with offices in North

America, Europe and Asia. For further information, please visit http://www.vocus.com or call

(800) 345-5572.

Visit the Vocus blog: www.vocus.com/blog

PR Suite | Marketing Suite Online News Releases Publicity Facebook Apps Email Marketing

@Vocus @PRWeb @Helpareporter @NorthSocial @iContact

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path to influence: a study of smbs and social media

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