I’m fascinated by small business (SMB) perceptions of digital media and which ones they think are most important or valuable.
Roughly a year ago we surveyed 300 SMBs and found SEO was the top channel that they would invest in if they had more money: “If you had 2X your current marketing budget where would you spend the money?” Their top three answers were:
- SEO
- Their website
- Social media
However new data (n=500 SMBs) argue that priorities have changed. We recently asked a slightly different question: “If you could do only one type of online marketing for your business what would it be?” Here was the response:
These results change if respondents are younger or older. Those older than 45 valued SEO higher than social, though just barely. For the youngest cohort, social media was preferred more than 2:1 over the next choice, which as video. SEO was in fourth position after email, which was third.
Presumably these preferences reflect respondents experiences and priorities as consumers.
In something of a contrarian data set, a recent Manta survey of 4,500 SMBs found that 51% of SMBs don’t have a Facebook Page for their business. And 50% of those that do said that they weren’t seeing a positive ROI. Most of those surveyed had fewer than 10 employees.
Source: LSA Insider
Learn more about Social Media Marketing from the Top4 Marketing Team, a Sydney-based team whose sole purpose is to drive more traffic, leads and sales through your business using a range of new and tested marketing techniques.
