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%
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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?
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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%
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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