Small Businesses Are Spending More On Social Media

By  |  November 20, 2012
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Social media keeps expanding in its reach and importance, and small businesses are taking note.

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    A new study by VerticalResponse has revealed some of the latest social spending trends by small businesses, and the rate at which SMBs are flocking online is quite impressive. For example, 25 percent of SMBs say they spend six-to-ten hours per week on social media, while 11 percent said they spend 11-20 hours and 7 percent spend 21-plus hours.

    What other statistics did the study find? We take a look in this PYMNTS.com Data Point.

    Facebook And Twitter Reign Supreme

    Facebook is the clear king among social sites in the eyes of SMBs – 90 percent of small businesses are on Facebook, and 34 percent said they post several times a week. Seventeen percent said they post once a day, while 15 percent are making a couple of posts each day. Nearly 70 percent of SMBs use Twitter, with 21 percent tweeting several times a week and another 21 percent tweeting several times a day.

    LinkedIn, Google+ And Pinterest Lag Behind

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    Only half of SMBs have LinkedIn accounts, but over half of those who do say they only post a few times a month. Only 32 percent of businesses use Google+, and just under half of those SMBs post infrequently. And finally, just 29 percent of small businesses are on Pinterest, and about two-fifths of those users are barley active. Only 4 percent, 3 percent and 1 percent of SMBS use LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest several times a day, respectively.

    An Increase In Budget For Social Media

    Over four times as many small businesses have increased their social media budgets over the past year than have decreased them: that’s a pretty staggering statistic when you consider that only two times as many SMBs have increased their overall marketing budgets than have decreased them overall. Thirty-six percent of small businesses pay for publishing or analytics tools, while 57.5 percent spend $26 or more each month on social media.

    To see more statistics on how small businesses use social media, view the VerticalResponse infographic below.


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