Small businesses are behind in their adoption of social media, finds Hiscox in survey results released in December 2012. Just 35% of the respondents said they are actively using social media (a figure that appears rather low), although 16% are interested in learning how to use social, and 7% would like to but don’t have the time. But, while small businesses might not yet be fully cottoning on to social media, Facebook claims to have seen a rapid rise in the number of local business pages.
Concerns About Social’s Usefulness Plague Small Businesses
Still, there’s an air of uncertainty surrounding the benefits of social media. A recent survey by Act-On Software, conducted by Forrester Consulting, found that there’s a perception among SMBs that social is yet to prove its worth. It appears that the small businesses surveyed by Hiscox share that concern, too. 14% don’t know if social media is useful for promoting their business, and an additional 19% don’t believe it is. 1 in 10 just don’t understand social media enough to have an opinion.
Other Findings:
- Small business owners do have an opinion on what works best for them. 79% said word-of-mouth was effective for them, and 44% said the same about advertising.
- Some small businesses are more apt to use social media than others. For example, 42% of IT/media service shops use social, compared to 31% of business services companies and 18% of auto shops.
About the Data: The Hiscox research was conducted by The Survey Shop, among 500 owners or partners of SMEs in the US, via online panels, between July 17 and July 28, 2012.
