Comments on: Small Business Starting to Use Social Media Successfully

By: Kari MCClintock

Kari MCClintock — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:26:58 +0000

Hi Frank, I read your blog today and found it really informative. I wanted to connect with you because I think you and your readers would be interested in MemCatch. It’s a new platform that has some great features. MemCatch has developed a very easy and simple way for you, and the general user to get started, and be productive with their social media activities across Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. We have also developed metrics to track the content you share. MemCatch includes the sharing component that can be found in some other apps, but our platform also offers functionality for collecting content across the web. We have packaged all of the basic social media steps together into one user friendly platform.

By: Social Media Tactics Pay Off For Business. – SEO Central

Social Media Tactics Pay Off For Business. – SEO Central — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:18:55 +0000

[...] business Internet marketing tactics are finally starting to pay off with a doubling in use of social media sites. These businesses have worked out that it is much more cost-effective to be a little creative when [...]

By: Kelley Edwards

Kelley Edwards — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:18:57 +0000

Great post on the importance of social media. The push to utilize more social networks to market business is what can now give an edge to smaller companies. Right now, small businesses have the time and capabilities to learn and improve their use of social media giving them a potential leg up on the competition. As a relatively small digital marketing firm The JLS Agency is in the process of just that.

Food for thought: In our research, we have noticed that a blooming audience for social media is mothers,(http://www.thejlsagency.com/post/10) and the emphasis is on communication rather than blatant advertising…thoughts??

By: Web Business Tutorials - WebProBusiness.com » Adoption Of Social Media Doubled Among SMBs

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:34:35 +0000

[...] A study reported by The Center for Media Research which was done by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business says the percentage of small businesses using social media doubled in 2009 (12% to 24%). That’s good news. I wrote more about this over at Marketing Pilgrim. [...]

By: craig

craig — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:16:51 +0000

But as per the stats only 14% of small businesses are using social media and only 7% are having a blog but trend is so good that business owners realizing advantages of social media is future is exciting for small business owners

By: Mike Volpe - HubSpot

Mike Volpe - HubSpot — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:23:41 +0000

We agree completely! Buzz and brand building are one thing, but most SMBs need customers and revenue from their marketing efforts. There are tons of other stats to back this up too:

- Social media helps drive low cost leads. Inbound marketing-dominated organizations experienced 60% lower cost per lead than outbound marketing-dominated organizations. (http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5587/Survey-Inbound-Marke ting-Cost-Per-Lead-Is-60-Lower-Than-Outbound.aspx)

- Social media drives sales. 100% of companies that blog daily have acquired customers from thier blog. (http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5620/Companies-That-Blog- More-Have-More-Consistent-Sales.aspx)

And from our own experience, we have grown in just a couple years from 0 customers to over 2,200 customers, becoming the largest and fastest growing marketing software company – and it is all because we used inbound marketing (social media, SEO, blogging, conversion) as the core of our marketing strategy.

By: SysComm

SysComm — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:28:29 +0000

It is interesting to notice how most small businesses understand the need to have a presence on social networking sites, but only half of them actually monitor feedback about their business. Good post!

By: Small Business Loan Blog

Small Business Loan Blog — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:12:16 +0000

Social media is where the buzz is, and small businesses need to be there to reach customers. good post.. .-= Small Business Loan Blog´s last blog ..Small Business Tip : Fee vs Free =-.

By: Muhammad amjad butt

Muhammad amjad butt — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:58:37 +0000

Which is the business best for me and how much capital need?

By: Lee Odden

Lee Odden — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:27:06 +0000

A startup company came to us with a very new web site in the B2B Marketing space and brought with them very high goals. As a new business and site, the disadvantage of no content or links earned yet prompted a look a social media centered around a blog. After 2 years of blog posts, Tweets, Facebook activity and other creative social promotions, that small business now has over 400 customers at 30k/year each, most of which were acquired via Social Content (blog) or search influenced by social promotions. On top of that, they get bragging rights with both blog and corp site ranking top 10 on Google for very competitive phrases such as “B2B Marketing” .

There are a lot of case studies and success stories floating around the web about social media talking about Fans/Followers and other engagement metrics, but I think this story of customer acquisition and revenue based on social content and SEO is worth telling. BTW, the SMB is Marketo.

By: Lafate Smith

Lafate Smith — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:20:44 +0000

Social Media helps small businesses level the playing field somewhat when trying to compete with big corporations. Social media is a more customer oriented type of marketing, which I think gives the small business owner somewhat of an advantage. Small businesses of all types should really invest time into learning the tools of social media and use it to interact with their customers and clients as soon as possible. However, the next big step for social media users is finding a good way to measure how well one’s social media strategy is working.

By: Stuart Atkins

Stuart Atkins — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:34:44 +0000

SM provides a no cost or low cost medium for small businesses to gain mindshare in this economy. In my new book, Small Business Marketing – A Guide for Survival, Growth, and Success, (Amazon: Paperback and Kindle), I advise small business owners to guard against SM as a time bandit. One has to bee careful on the time equation. Balance, focus, and a little bit each day works best.

By: roy morejon

roy morejon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:36:34 +0000

It's great to see the adoption of social media by SMB’s increasing.- Hopefully they have a strategy in place. .-= roy morejon´s last blog ..Plain Language & Your Marketing Message =-.