Marketing and Social Media Seeds

In 2011 U.S. Small Businesses Plan to Spend More on Marketing By Using Social Media

It  is not surprising that small business owners are feeling more optimistic but are they reading the marketing and advertising landscape realistically especially the social media tea leaves?

I think the question really should read, Is social media the holy grail of connecting with their audience and creating a compelling message?

SocialMediaDigest says this,

According to the Ad-ology 2011 Small Business Marketing Forecast, small business owners are increasingly optimistic overall, and 46% plan increased marketing spending in 2011, up from 29% who planned increases in 2010. Email marketing and company websites continue to be the most popular online marketing methods, but 45% plan to do more with online video and 35% said the same for mobile advertising.

Here’s the interesting part, according to these two charts from an Ad-ology Survey of Small Business Owners, business owners might have an overly optimistic expectation for the usage of social media as an integrated part of a marketing plan.

Social Media Sites Beneficial to US Small Business

According to C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research, says “… these businesses are putting more resources into video, and many of them are looking to jump in to mobile… becoming increasingly savvy on how to market with websites and social media… seem ready to try new ways to reach their customers… ”

There are many objectives companies find social media outreach useful for, but lead generation was the top benefit reported, selected by more than half of small-business owners. The study also found that small-business owners reported that monitoring what is being said about their businesses a significant benefit. Improving customer experience was third in importance.

Social Media Benefits to Small Business

Here’s what I gleaned from the survey charts, small business owners see every single “perceived benefit” as a highly rewarding activity and we all know that it never works out this way – 25% plus of participants see every perceived benefit and “very beneficial” and “somewhat.” I’m sorry but it never works out this way maybe they are a tad to hopeful in what social media can produce for their business.

Social media as an important part of any integrated marketing platform, program and project but is usually filled with long hours and hard work, this kind of expertise and the time commitment that goes into developing a strong social media message and presence and is way beyond most small and usually most medium businesses. Businesses need to concentrate on developing a powerful marketing system that can grow from the proverbial marketing seed into a strong and powerful message and content for their business. And in order to get the most bang from the buck, small and medium business owners and leaders might want to consider seeking out a professional marketing and advertising firm to at least discuss where they sit presently in the social media landscape.

Thanks StellaPop.