82% of small businesses are using social media for marketing today and 88% are very likely to use social media in the next year, finds Constant Contact in newly-released survey results. For those still holding out, a leading 43% say that email marketing is enough for them, according to the study. Close behind, 40% cite a lack of resources, while about 3 in 10 either don’t know how to use social (31%) or don’t think it’s right for their business (30%). Significantly fewer don’t know what to post (13%).
Results from a separate Constant Contact survey suggest that email is the most commonly-used digital marketing channel among small businesses, followed by social.
Meanwhile, according to this latest survey, Facebook is (predictably) the most popular social media site, by 85% of those using social. Next are LinkedIn and Twitter, each at 59%, with YouTube (47%) nearing majority adoption.
About 1 in 3 are using social media to promote exclusive offers, 29% use it to engage with both industry thought leaders and competitors, and 8% are using location-based services such as Foursquare to communicate with customers.