Are Small Businesses Engaged in Social Media?

The almost sudden advent of various forms of social media has provided the business world with an entirely new avenue for marketing. With the amount of such marketing content we are presented with on a daily basis, it is hard to believe that any business is not taking advantage of social media. In a recent cnet article, Caroline McCarthy highlights two conflicting studies on small business use of social media.

A study done by Citibank revealed that the majority of small businesses do not yet see the business value in social media, or do not have the resources to get into it. A study done by Internet2Go, provides results quite incongruous to this, claiming that nearly half of all small businesses are on facebook and the same proportion are on twitter. The second study, however, only polled members of MerchantCircle, which are businesses already utilizing, or on their way to utilizing, social media.

Citibank's results expose the large obstacles small businesses are faced with when it comes to social media. Small businesses lack the time and people required to manage this marketing avenue, as it demands high amount of maintenance and attention. And while the survey done by Internet2Go may be slightly biased and inaccurate, it does serve to show how simple it is for businesses to get into social media.

Source: Are Small Businesses Chugging Social Media Kool-Aid?