SMBs Spend More on Social Media Vs. Any Category

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, September 15, 2014

In the latest wave of BIA/Kelsey's "Local Commerce Monitor," an ongoing study of the advertising behaviors of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), 74.5% of SMBs reported using social media to promote their businesses -- more than any other category of media. Facebook dominates SMB usage, with 55.1% of SMBs reporting they have a Facebook page for business use, and 20.0% reporting they have run a Facebook ad or promoted post.

At the same time, strong showings by other platforms, including LinkedIn (31%), Pinterest (10.3%), Instagram (10.6%) and Twitter's promoted tweets (13.6%), indicate the social space is highly robust for SMB marketing.

"It's evident from LCM 18 that social media has become a pivotal platform for SMBs," said BIA/Kelsey Director of Research Steve Marshall. "Social media is not only number one in terms of utilization by SMBs, it is also number one in share of SMB media spending." SMBs reported spending 21.4% of their total media budget on social media in the past 12 months, according to LCM 18.

The survey covers over 35 different media and platforms used by SMBs for advertising and promotion. These media fall into 10 top-level media categories: online (e.g., search, display ads, blogs); traditional (e.g., direct mail, newspapers); mobile (e.g., search, SMS, display); local coupons (print and online); social (e.g., Facebook, Twitter); video (e.g., website videos, YouTube); broadcast; local directories (print and online); giveaway items; and community sponsorships.

Updates to this wave of the survey questionnaire included additions to the list of media (Pinterest, Instagram, streaming audio and promoted Tweets), as well as additional questions to cover social engagement, click fraud, agency relationships, use of mobile devices in-store, customer incentives and use of transaction data.