Every six months Network Solutions and the University of Maryland update their “The State of Small Business Report”. This report has become an industry standard and speaks to the trends and acceptance of new technology in the small business community. They recently released their January 2011 survey results and there are some interesting things that really stuck with us. Here are our top five call-outs from the updated report and our thoughts on what it all means. 

1. Company websites, social media, and SEO all get a big bump

Without a doubt company websites are the undeniable king of the small business marketing realm. While growth of small businesses with websites will slow in the next few years since so many already have them (2/3 of small businesses in two years!), the interesting thing to observe will be how small businesses drive traffic to their website. And this is exactly where social media and SEO come into play. Both serve as effective ways to direct traffic to your site. The tie between the growth of these three areas can’t be denied. 

2. Mobile (and location-based) marketing may not be all the rage after all

This version of the report brought out an interesting phenomenon. Not only do small business owners not see the value in mobile marketing (which includes texting promotions and location-based services), but even after being educated on the many benefits, they still didn’t see much value in it. There is a very strong gap between media outlets and those in the tech industry who praise location-based services in particular, and small businesses that just aren’t buying it…. yet. 

3. Usage of social media increases across the board

Positives signs on the social media front! Every single social media platform included in the poll saw increased use by small businesses. Facebook and LinkedIn both jumped a whopping 10% with an 8% increase in the use of location-based services. So what does it all mean? Well the jump in Facebook can be directly attributed to the fact that 97% of small businesses now know about Facebook. This ever-present platform will only grow to play a larger role in the small business game. As small businesses begin to break out into more specialized social networks (such as using LinkedIn for professional networking) it can only stand to benefit the entire population. The involvement and increased awareness will inevitably create a trickle-down effect for the small businesses that are slower adopters.

4. Small businesses aren’t updating their networks frequently enough

While the updated report does bring an improvement in the frequency of updates to social media networks, the truth is that it’s just not good enough. From our own research we found that if small businesses post 8 or more times per day, they’ll receive almost 10 times more comments. It’s our goal to get small businesses to post daily, if not more often. We’ve all seen that the more you put into social media the more you’ll get out of it. 

5. Social media really is about engaging your existing customers

While finding leads and bringing in new business is still important,  staying engaged with current customers took a huge leap in the past 6 months with nearly a 20% increase! This is huge, and a change we wholeheartedly support. Social media is such an amazing customer service tool. The thing about social media is that at the end of the day, people tweeting and writing about your business on Facebook just want to be heard. If you can make them feel important and appreciated by your business, you’re increasing customer loyalty. It’s important for small businesses to interact with their customers on social networks and to really listen to what they’re saying. 

All charts were taken directly from “The State of Small Business Report” and can be found here.

Alexis Lamster