SMEs embrace social media: survey

| July 20, 2011



The use of social media by SMEs has increased substantially over the last 12 months according to research released by Melbourne IT.

The Melbourne IT eBiz Review 2011, which polled 2,264 Australian small and medium sized businesses with an online presence (eSMBs), saw 50% of eSMBs now using social media as part of their customer-facing operations, compared to only 34% last year.

However, while 89% of those eSMBs using social media have a Facebook page, only 5% preferred to drive customers to their Facebook page rather than their company website. Of those surveyed 76% said their company website was the preferred customer destination.

Melbourne IT’s SMB eBusiness Solutions Executive General Manager Damon Fieldgate said social media can be a fabulous business tool for small businesses.

“Those eSMBs who ignore it are missing an opportunity to engage with potential new customers. However as the results show, speculation of the ‘death’ of the company website in favour of Facebook is exaggerated.

“These results suggest eSMBs are instead using social media as a supplement to their business models rather than making them the focal point, which is in turn helping them broaden their scope, customer base and revenue opportunities,” he said.

However, small businesses were not quick to embrace all things new online, with only a small 5% of respondents saying they saw any sales or marketing benefits from group buying coupon sites (for example, Scoopon, Spreets or Groupon).

“The reaction to group buying from eSMBs indicates caution. While short term promotions have their place, we would encourage small businesses to develop an integrated online marketing approach – including social media – to build long-term relationships with customers for long-term gain,” Mr Fieldgate said.

While respondents who stated they did not use social media decreased this year compared to last year’s survey (50% don’t use social media in 2011 compared to 66% in 2010), the reasons for not adopting social media remained the same. Thirty-seven percent of those eSMBs not using social media still needed to be convinced of the benefits, with 36% saying they did not have the time to maintain it.

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