SOCIAL

S E !TWMEDIA This is part two in a series of studies

conducted by Roundpeg to understand

how small business owners are using

Social Media.

Facebook is the most common social

media used by small business owners.

© 2010 Roundpeg, Inc. All Rights Reserved.by

VOLUME 2

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

TotalPopulation

OneEmployee

2-5Employees

6-10Employees

11-24Employees

25+Employees

Yes No

Do You Promote Your Business on Facebook?

© 2010 Roundpeg, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Facebook is # 1

Like our first social media study, the facebook analysis was conducted entirely online. Links to

the survey were sent via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and email invitations. Once again, the responses

provide valuable insight into social media usage, but the sample size is not large enough to be

projectionable. In this second study we asked several open ended questions which provide valuable

insight to complement the quantitative data.

The majority of respondents to our first study indicated Facebook was their primary network.

This is not surprising, since the simple user interface makes it easy to transition from business to

personal. So how much of this Facebook use goes beyond personal? As a matter of fact 83% of business

owners say they promote their business on Facebook. The answers did not seem to vary widely based on

company size.

While the majority of small business owners were testing the waters with Facebook, the pay off

doesn’t seem to be there yet with few companies indicating a significant percentage of their sales

came from their Facebook activities. So why do they do it? Why spend the time, if it isn’t paying off?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

TotalPopulation

OneEmployee

2-5Employees

6-10Employees

11-24Employees

25+Employees

0 - 5 % 6 - 10 % 11 - 25% 25 - 40 %

What Percent of Your Business Comes From Facebook?

What Respondents Said...

• You don’t have to spend a lot of time to reach this audience.

• Don’t poo-poo it, if you’re not a fan of Facebook… it doesn’t matter whether you like

Facebook, it matters if your clients or prospects do!

• It is essential that this tool is used! Educate your fans how to interact and SHARE your posts.

The potential reach of even one post is in the thousands!SOCIAL

S E !TWMEDIA

pg. 1

About 60% of the companies who

responded to our survey indicated they had a

fan page, yet less than 10% had created a

custom welcome page. While repeat visitors to

your page can skip over the welcome page, it

creates a simple branded experience for the

first time visitor, inviting them to become a fan.

Less than half the companies surveyed indicated they had a specific Facebook strategy. Just like

any other marketing endeavor, without a clear strategy which is focused on achieving specific goals, the

activities can keep you busy without producing any real results.

Significantly more cost effective, the Google counterpart Facebook ads provide an opportunity to

present information to a very specific niche. Surprisingly less than 30% of the companies responding to

the survey took advantage of this medium. And among those who did, the monthly spending budget was

relatively low with 90% spending $100 or less a month and the rest indicating their budget was less than

$500/month.

What Respondents Said...

• When asked about their fan page strategy here are a few of the things building owners told us

about what they do with Facebook and why:

• It is an inexpensive way to continue to build your brand.

• Make sure you know who you are before beginning to put your brand in a social media

outlet.

• Make sure you have a strategy and relevant content for your fan base.

Limited Results..

While most of the companies we surveyed indicated they use Facebook to promote their business,

few seem to be seeing any real result from their activities. As we dove into the data we found few had

a specific, or consistent approach to the process.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

FacebookStrategy

Fan Page Facebook Ads Custom WelcomePage

Yes No

How Do You Use Facebook?

© 2010 Roundpeg, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SOCIAL

S E !TWMEDIA

pg. 2

Mixed Objectives...

We wanted to know more than just if small business owners were using social media. We wanted

to know what their objectives were. In our survey, we asked business owners to comment on each of

twelve possible uses for Facebook.

These include:

Brand Awareness, Lead Generation, Drive Traffic to Website, Promote Special Events,

Conversation with Clients, Provide Customer Service, Show Work Samples, Make Special Offers, Conduct

Research, Distribute Coupons, Recruit Employees or Run Contests.

For each option, participants could strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree.

There was no fence sitting allowed. Points were assigned to their answers as follows:

• Strongly Agree 4 • Agree 3 • Disagree 2 • Strongly Disagree 1

Why Companies Use Facebook

The most common reason companies are

active on Facebook is building brand awareness.

With a score of 3.69 almost every business

responding to the survey indicated this was part

of their Facebook activity. This is followed

closely by driving traffic to web pages,

promoting special events and generating leads.

As we talk to business owners the “building brand awareness” seems to be the fall back answer.

Business owners feel there is value with just “getting their name out there” even if they don’t have a

specific plan of what to do with the response. Unfortunately the haphazard approach does not create

significant sales results.

As business owners drive traffic from Facebook to their website, a clear conversion strategy is

required to convert fans to clients.

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Build BrandAw areness

Drive Traff ic toWeb Page

PromoteSpecial Events

GenerateLeads

Most Common Uses for Facebook

By Small Businesses

SOCIAL

S E !TWMEDIA

© 2010 Roundpeg, Inc. All Rights Reserved.pg. 3

Conversationsw ith Clients

Show WorkSamples

Make SpecialOffers

ConductResearch

Mixed Use Among Small Businesses

Who is Responsible for the

Fan Page Content?

Staff Owner Managers

Owner

StaffManager

© 2010 Roundpeg, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SOCIAL

S E !TWMEDIA

This works extremely well for consumer products and retail stores, but even doctors and software

developers have grown their fan base using some of these techniques.

According to at least one agency which measures the impact of social media, the average fan is

worth $138. While this will vary based on the engagement level with your fans, the bottom line is: The

more a company engages, the more valuable the fans become.

Who Creates Content for Your Fan Page?

While many companies are rushing to create fan pages, their social media programs fall a little

short because they don’t clearly define roles. They fail to decide who will create content, how often

and about what.

A significant number of respondents

indicate they use Facebook to talk to clients,

show off work samples, make special offers and

conduct research.

In our experience, it is these secondary

functions which can really differentiate your

brand on Facebook.

In most of the companies which responded

to our survey, the owner seems to be primarily

responsible for the direction of the fan page.

Especially in small businesses, where the brand is

often an extension of the owner’s personality, it is

critical that he/she provides some of the on-line

voice. This is supplemented with company news,

industry trends, contests, testimonials and surveys.

The variety of information makes the page more

interesting.

pg. 4

Who Contributes Content

to the Company Fan Page?

Owner Manager Staff Member Intern Customer Prospect

Active Somewhat Rarely Never

SOCIAL

S E !TWMEDIA

© 2010 Roundpeg, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In our Small Business Facebook study we noticed several interesting trends as we took a closer

look at who was contributing content to the page:

Reaching out to your clients, encouraging and even

offering incentives for them to add posts to a company fan page will give broader, positive exposure.

While this survey has shed light on how small business owners use Facebook and what they get in

return, the study raises new questions. How long will people continue to utilize social media without

seeing a significant ROI? Will companies refine their Facebook approach with a defined strategy, or will

they wander off to greener marketing pastures? Only time will tell the answers to these questions and

we’ll be watching closely. In the meantime, we’ll be taking a look at how small business owners are

using Twitter—and what the payoff is.

Here are a few more tips from the survey respondents.

• Be consistent and frequent in your posting. I post quality content once a day. I also set it up

so it also posts to my Twitter and LinkedIN accounts.

• Don’t do ‘quote of the month’ (week or day) or you’ll get hidden or deleted.

• Keep your business and personal accounts separate.

• Don’t play the games offered or it looks like you have time to waste.

• Don’t rely too heavily on Facebook. It is NOT your site and is subject to their rules and

If a company has interns they are almost

always involved in content creation for the fan

page. This indicates companies are really not taking

Facebook seriously. If they did, would they rely on

the least experienced member of their team to

lead the content development?

A surprising fact: Prospects were actually

more involved then clients in content creation. This

is a huge opportunity for small business owners.

pg. 5