BIA/Kelsey Study Reports SMBs Turn to Social Media for Advertising
Excerpted from Rajani Baburajan's TMCnet article
A recent study by BIA/ Kelsey analyzes the influence of various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace in the marketing activities of SMBs today.
BIA/Kelsey found that there is growing interest among SMBs to leverage the power of social media to improve the business. About 32 percent of SMBs surveyed in the study indicated they plan to include social media in their marketing mix in the next 12 months by using a page on a social site such asFacebook, LinkedIn or MySpace.
Steve Marshall, director of research and consulting, BIA/Kelsey, said, that as local consumers increasingly gravitate to social networks, local businesses understand they need to be part of the conversation. “This opens up a market opportunity for local media companies that offer products and services that enable local advertisers to easily integrate social media into their marketing efforts,” Marshall said.
As the popularity of social media escalates among businesses as well as end users, service providers are looking towards exploiting the opportunity by offering innovative services.
My Take
This is an early, measurable appearance of the wave which will permanently alter the ad mix. As they adopt web-based social media, small businesses will be able to harness the marketing power of their social matrix. They'll be able to increasingly and economically reach customers "where they're at".
- Effectively - based on referrals from trusted relationships
- Instantly - communicate and transact in real time with prospective customers; &
- Measurably - know their advertising ROI
This is "good stuff!"
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