Path to Influence: A Study of SMBs and social media

Path to Influence:An Industry Study of SMBs and Social MediaA study on how SMBs are using social media

Table of Contents 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

Summary of Key Statisticso 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.

Study MethodologyVocus teamed with Duct Tape Marketing to commission a survey 400 decision makers at small- andmedium-sized business (SMBs) and organizations. The survey was conducted from July 18th to July28th 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 agencyo Annual revenues between $5 million and $50 milliono No more than 1,000 employeeso Have a role in marketing decisionso Organization must have an existing web presence

Study Demographics Survey goalsThe goal of this survey was to answer the following generalquestions: 32% 41%• 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? 28%• What challenges are businesses facing when it comes to using social media? 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

Perceptions of Social Media 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. 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 How Helpful has insight on our customers demands and requirements. Social Media Been? It has allowed us to promote our products to people we may not have beenHELPED a able to reach normally and allowed us to let others know when we have lastgreat deal 29% minute deals and events going on that would not have been worth the time without these outlets . HELPEDsomewhat 58% 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.No Effect 10% Limited use of social media and so far very limited positive results. HURT 0%

Paths to Social Media Influence Approach to Building InfluenceA perennial question in social media: does the size of afollowing matter? The fascination with a large following isa hard spell to shake. 7%While a majority of SMBs favor an approach of quality overquantity, including a plurality who prefer very engagedfollowers, nearly a third prioritize the number of followersover their level of engagement. 27% 40%Another third is split down the middle. These differencescan result in very different approaches to social media use. 27%We don’t need a huge following, but we want a We don’t mind a smaller base of followers orlarge number of followers or fans on social fans on social media but they should bemedia who might occasionally respond to calls people who regularly engage with ourto action or promote our organization to others. organization through social media, respond to most calls to action, and proactively post or share information about our organization with others.We want a very large number of followers or Not sure.fans on social media but don’t mind if there islittle or no on-going interaction or furtherpromotion of the organization.

Paths to Social Media InfluenceThe larger a business is, the more inclined it is Organizational Characteristicsto believe that a larger following is better. Thislikely reflects the challenge of scale – as a $5 mil. to lessbusiness grows and is challenged to keep up than $15 mil. 46% 35% 13%with the volume in terms of support, service andmarketing. $15 mil. to less than $20 mil. 51% 28% 13%Smaller organizations, perhaps because of the $20 mil. to lessmore intimate relationships with customers are than $30 mil. 32% 26% 34%more concerned with engaging their audience.B2B organizations, and those that market to the $30 mil. + 39% 24% 34%government, tend to favor a smaller more highlyengaged audience. B2B marketers know that Smaller base of people who regularly engage.businesses are made up of people, the sales Medium following who might occasionally respondcycles tend to be longer, the deals larger, andrelationships with people are critical to those Very large number/don’t mind if there is littlesales. interaction.B2C organizations are split between the desire B2C 35% 24% 38%for large social media followings andengagement. B2B 42% 23% 27% B2G 42% 35% 17%

Paths to Social Media InfluenceAn amazing result of this study is the a cross tab analysis shows those who are aiming to build a large but unengagedbase are most likely to feel that social media is helpful. In fact more than half said “very helpful.” Those SMBs focusedone engagement are inclined to believe social media has been “somewhat helpful.” Forty percent of SMBs in the B2Ccategory, which is the segment most focused on building a large but unengaged following, are most likely to find socialmedia very helpful. Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful No difference Path to Influence Small/engaged base 19% 68% 11% Medium/somewhat engaged base 21% 64% 15% Large/unengaged base 55% 41% 2%

Current Use: Push vs. PullSocial media accounts for a substantial share of SMB’s marketing activities – the meanaverage was 32% or about one-third of SMB efforts. Interestingly enough, the larger theorganization, the greater the role of social media in the marketing mix. Share of Marketing Mean $5 million to less than $15 24% million 43% $15 million to less than $20 27% million $20 million to less than $30 34% million 15% $30 million + 35% 15% B2C 38% 4% 4% B2B 30% B2G 30% 0% 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%

Current Use: Push vs. Pull 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. Does your organization use social media to…? B2C B2B B2GShare news about your organization 91% 91% 90% 89% Share news about new products or… 90% 93% 92% 95% Promote content we have posted… 81% 87% 78% 79%Increase or optimize your presence… 70% 75% 74% 79% Advertise sales or special… 69% 77% 68% 70% Hold contests 43% 54% 41% 36% Solicit feedback from customers… 75% 81% 75% 75% Monitor mentions of your… 67% 72% 69% 79% Organize in-person events 60% 65% 58% 63% Organize online events 56% 66% 53% 61% Handle customer service issues 46% 59% 48% 52%

Current Use: Push vs. PullBut it’s not all push. Most SMBs are using social media to interact and engage with customers orclients 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. Does your organization use social media to…? B2C B2B B2G Build marketing lists of customers/clients reachable through 74% 79% 78% 84% social media Engage in one-on-one dialogue with customers/clients by directing 61% 70% 63% 61% messages or comments to them or… Contact customers/clients in conjunction with a CRM (customer 57% 68% 59% 70% relationship management) system Follow a customer’s/client’s account on a social media site 52% 55% 60% 63% Discuss, investigate, or resolve customer service issues 51% 64% 49% 54%

Current Use: Where SMBs engageAs Facebook approaches one billion users, there’s Current and Past Use of Social Media Siteslittle surprise it tops the chart as the most often Currently Use Used in Pastused social media platform. LinkedIn, which is Facebook 73% 9%publically trade, Twitter and YouTube also likely LinkedIn 61% 13%candidates for ranking high given their ubiquity inthe social space. Twitter 55% 11% YouTube 47% 14% Google+ 44% 9%Google+ stands out as in the fifth spot, firstbecause this suggests is it more commonly used Blogger 22% 10%then the public criticism of the platform might Pinterest 20% 10%suggest. That Google also owns YouTube should MySpace 20% 19%not be underrated, especially since Google has WordPress 19% 12%actively worked on integrations. For example thatvideo chats conducted in Google Hangouts can be Foursquare 19% 13%broadcast live on a YouTube channel. Flickr 19% 12% Instagram 15% 10%MySpace sees nearly as many SMBs currently Vimeo 11% 11%using the platform as have used it in the past. Tumblr 13% 11%Though the network is a shell of it’s former self, it Meetup 10% 11%still has a strong base in music and arts. StumbleUpon 9% 9% Posterous 9% 7%Pintrest of course has enjoyed a dramatic rise –and equally dramatic headlines of late. Delicious 9% 8%FourSquare, because of it’s geo-location “check in” Reddit 9% 11%capability is more suited to brick-and-mortar Digg 8% 13%companies. Quora 7% 9%

Current Use: Is Social Media Working? 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. Use vs. Helpfulness 60% Google+ 50% Facebook Flickr 40% TwitterHelpfulness StumbleUpon (% rated 5) WordPress YouTube LinkedIn 30% Blogger Pinterest 20% MySpace Foursquare 10% Instagram 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Current Use

People, Budgets and Tools 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. Median: 3 tools Median: $845 # of Software/Online Tools Used Monthly Spending on Software or an online Social Media Management tool that you pay for 36% Tools 34% 44%Free software or online 26% 32% tool 36% 24% 16% Do not use any 12% 12% software or onlinetools to manage social 28%media communicationsWe have hired outside consultants to helpwith social media and I 22% 1 2-3 4-5 6+ Not sure <$1000 $1000+ Not suream not aware of what tools they may or…

People, Budgets and Tools What Additional Steps has Your Organization Taken? Added social media mgmt to the duties of someone/people involved in marketing 73% Looked at how similar organizations use social media 72% Added social media mgmt to the duties of someone involved in managing your organization 64% Attended a FREE presentationon social media best practices 54% Hired a new employee with experience or expertise in using social media 49% Created an internal social media team 49% Hired staff specifically to manage social media 43% Hired an outside consultant or agency to advise you 42% Received training from company who provides your organization with a paid software tool for managing social media 41% Attended a PAID presentation on social media best practices for organizations like yours 38%

Measures and Metrics 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. Metrics Used for Social Media Increased traffic to your organization’s website from social media… 76% Number of new customers/clients who mention hearing about your… 70% Number of “Likes”, followers, etc. 67% Number of people following those who “Like” or follow your… 63% Increase in revenue or sales following implementation of new social… 60% Number of comments/posts mentioning, tagging, or hash-tagging your… 57% Average number of comments, shares, posts or other interaction… 57% More or higher priority links in search engine results 56%Number of comments/posts mentioning your organization compared to… 51% Number of shares, retweets, etc. 51% Demographic make-up of your followers 49% Increase in foot-traffic to a brick-and-mortar location following… 48% Number of conversions 42%

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. Metric Use vs. Usefulness 45% Increase in foot traffic Increase in revenue/sales 40% # of new customers mentioning social mediaUsefulness (% rated 5) 35% Increased traffic to website 30% # of comments/posts # of conversions compared to competitors # of comments/ posts mentioning org. # of LIkes 25% # of shares/retweets Secondary audience size Avg. # of interactions w/ 20% follower 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% Current Use

Barriers to Social Media SuccessA third of SMBs consider at least one of these issues a major problem for their organizations. While only 36% of SMBsrated 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 ofthe barriers listed is a single major problem across all SMBs, the accumulation of many secondary problems can lead tofrustration. It’s noteworthy that the highest rated barrier is the perception that social media is “free” when in fact itrequires a substantial investment of time, and in many cases budget. Barriers to Social Media Use Rated 5, Major Problem Rated 4 People think of social media as “free” but really it costs a great… 12% 43% Unhappy customers/clients can publicly voice complaints 11% 37% We don’t have the right expertise in-house 10% 30% We can’t control who we reach or target to the audience we… 10% 29% So many social media options/ difficult to know which are the… 10% 33% Using social media makes problems or negative incidents more… 10% 34% The person/people who have final say do not see the value of… 9% 26% Gives us less control over our brand image 8% 26% The person/people who have final say will not allot sufficient… 8% 28% Different sites have their own programming language, so we need… 8% 28% Our message gets lost or distorted 8% 24% Using social media for quite a while but haven’t been able to grow… 7% 20% Don’t know what content is best 6% 23%

Barriers to Social Media Success SMBs on barriers to social media success in their own words… 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. 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. 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 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.A person in management who does not believe in it or understand it, the amount of time it takes, havingmarketing employees to manage, generating content for the social media sites, knowing if/when to spendmoney on social media ventures.

The Future OutlookOverall 84% of SMBs plan to increase their spend on Helped Helpedsocial media – the pie chart below breaks this number great deal somewhat No diff.out between what percentage plan to spend a lot, and Increase use of socialwhat percentage plan to spend a little. Not surprisingly, 78% 29% 8% media A LOTas the grid to the right indicates, 78% SMBs that said Increase use of social 17% 57% 41%social media has helped a great deal, plan to increase media A LITTLEtheir spending a lot. Keep social media use 5% 14% 44% about the same Decrease use of social - 0% 3% media A LITTLE Decrease use of social - - - media A LOT Future Plans for Social Media 1% 1% Increase use of social media A LOT Future Plans Fall into two Categories 14% Increase use of social media A LITTLE Just MORE: Resource Allotment 39% • Use more sites • Hire more help Keep social media use • Share more • Spend more time about the same • Engage more • Increase investment Decrease use of social 45% media A LITTLE Not sure

The Future Outlook Social Media Sites Planning to Use in Next Year Google+ and photo sharing sites Instagram and Pinterest top the charts as the social Google+ 14% platforms SMBs plan to invest. That Instagram 14% Instagram is an area for growth is good news for Facebook, which with the Pinterest 13% exception of MySpace, has the lowest Reddit 12% projection of growth. Tumblr 12% Foursquare 11% Flickr 11% Blogger 11% Twitter 11% Vimeo 10% Meetup 10% StumbleUpon 10% Quora 9% YouTube 9% LinkedIn 9% Digg 9% Posterous 8% Delicious 8% WordPress 7% Facebook 7% MySpace 5%

Conclusionso 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 efforto 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

About Authors 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. Hes 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. Hes 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 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/blogPR 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

by Vocus on Sep 12, 2012

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