Engaging Small Business in Social Media

Engaging Small
Business Decision
Makers Through
Social Media
How Small Business Decision Makers Utilize Social
Media as a Resource for Business Information,
with Implications for Improving Marketing to
Small Business

A 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study Report

By
Ben Hanna, Ph.D.
VP, Marketing
R.H. Donnelley Interactive

December 7, 2009

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© 2009 Business.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. www.business.com

Engaging Small Business
Through Social Media

Engaging Small Business Decision Makers

Contents
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 2
RESEARCH REPORT

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3
Results Summary .................................................................................................................. 3
A Request when Referencing or Sharing this Study ............................................................. 4
Top Social Media Resources for Business Information ............................................................ 5
Top Business Social Media Resources by Industry .................................................................. 9
Advertising & Marketing Industry......................................................................................... 10
Automotive Industry ............................................................................................................. 11
Computers & Software Industry .......................................................................................... 12
Financial Services Industry ................................................................................................. 13
Food & Beverage Industry ................................................................................................... 14
Healthcare Industry ............................................................................................................. 15
Industrial Goods & Services Industry .................................................................................. 16
Internet & Online Industry .................................................................................................... 17
Legal Industry ...................................................................................................................... 18
Media & Entertainment Industry .......................................................................................... 19
Real Estate & Construction Industry ................................................................................... 20
Retail Industry...................................................................................................................... 21
Top Business Social Media Resources by Company Size ..................................................... 22
Top Business Social Media Resources by Job Level ............................................................. 24
Top Business Social Media Resources by Job Role .............................................................. 26
Business Social Media Usage at B2B vs. B2C Companies.................................................... 26
Predicting How Your Target Audience will Use Social Media for Business in the Future ...... 29
Additional Reports Based on this Research ........................................................................... 34
2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study ............................................................. 34
2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study ..................................................................... 34
Engaging Small Business Decision Makers Through Social Media .................................... 34
Upcoming Reports ............................................................................................................... 34
About the Study....................................................................................................................... 35
Contact .................................................................................................................................... 39
More Resources from Business.com… .................................................................................. 40


1


List of Figures
Figure 1: Number of Social Media Resources Used for Business Information ......................... 5
Figure 2: Top Business Social Media Resources for Small Business Decision Makers .......... 6
Figure 3: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Industry ............................... 9
Figure 4: Social Media Use for Business – Advertising & Marketing Industry ........................ 10
Figure 5: Social Media Use for Business – Automotive Industry ............................................ 11
Figure 6: Social Media Use for Business – Computers & Software Industry.......................... 12
Figure 7: Social Media Use for Business – Financial Services Industry................................. 13
RESEARCH REPORT

Figure 8: Social Media Use for Business – Food & Beverage Industry .................................. 14
Figure 9: Social Media Use for Business – Healthcare Industry ............................................ 15
Figure 10: Social Media Use for Business – Industrial Goods & Services Industry ............... 16
Figure 11: Social Media Use for Business – Internet & Online Industry ................................. 17
Figure 12: Social Media Use for Business – Legal Industry ................................................... 18
Figure 13: Social Media Use for Business – Media & Entertainment Industry ....................... 19
Figure 14: Social Media Use for Business – Real Estate & Construction Industry ................ 20
Figure 15: Social Media Use for Business – Retail Industry ................................................... 21
Figure 16: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Company Size ................. 22
Figure 17: Significant Differences in Business Social Media Usage by Company Size ......... 23
Figure 18: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Small Business (10-99
Employees) Job Level ............................................................................................................. 24
Figure 19: Use of Social Media Resources for Business Information – By Small Business (10-
99 Employees) Decision Maker Job Level .............................................................................. 25
Figure 20: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Small Business Decision
Makers by Company Type ...................................................................................................... 27
Figure 21: Use of Social Media Resources for Business Information – Small Business
Decision Makers by Company Type ....................................................................................... 28
Figure 22: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Small Business Decision
Makers by Business Social Media Experience ....................................................................... 30
Figure 23: Social Media Resources where Usage Increases with Overall Experience with
Business Social Media ............................................................................................................ 31
Figure 24: Social Media Resources where Usage Increases then Drops with Overall
Experience with Business Social Media ................................................................................. 32
Figure 25: Percentage of Small Business Decision Makers by Industry with <1 Year of
Experience with Business Social Media Initiatives ................................................................. 33
Figure 26: Study Participants by Company Size .................................................................... 35
Figure 27: Study Participants by Industry ............................................................................... 36
Figure 28: Study Participants by Job Role .............................................................................. 36
Figure 29: Study Participants by Job Level............................................................................. 37
Figure 30: Study Participants by Company Type ................................................................... 37
Figure 31: Study Participants by Company Product / Service Focus ..................................... 38
Figure 32: Study Participants by Primary Customer Location ................................................ 38


2


Introduction
What are the most effective social media channels through which to reach small
business decision makers?

This is the key question we address in this companion report to Business.com’s 2009
Business Social Media Benchmarking Study. Based on our sample of 1,711 small
business decision makers currently using one or more social media resources to find
business-relevant information, this report provides solid benchmark data to help improve
RESEARCH REPORT

marketing to small business while addressing the following questions:

• According to small business decision makers, what are the most popular, and most
useful, social media resources for business information?

• Are there significant differences in business social media usage across industries, job
roles and/or company type (B2C vs. B2B)?

As with other reports in this series, it is important to clarify at the outset that all study
participants already use social media for business. Given mounting evidence that social
media usage is quickly becoming mainstream – for example, 46% of US adults now
1
participate in social networks, and a quarter do so weekly – the most important questions
revolve around how social media is being used for business, not if it is being used.

Results Summary
The following provide a brief overview of some of the key findings and insights in this report:

• The report is based on survey results from 1,711 small company (<100 employees)
participants in a middle management (Director, Department Head, Supervisor) or
above role in their companies

• All respondents currently use one or more social media resources for business-
relevant information in their day-to-day job (i.e., all results should be interpreted as
“among those using social media for business…” rather than “across all
businesses…”)

• The most popular social media resources small business decision makers turn to for
business are webinars and podcasts, user ratings and reviews of business products
and services, and business profiles (accounts, fan pages, channels, etc.) on social
networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other sites.

• The convenience and speed with which small business decision makers can find
business-relevant information is what attracts them to social media resources. For
example, webinars save the time and expense of travel for professional education.

• Small business decision makers in the Internet & Online, Advertising & Marketing and
Computers & Software industries use significantly more social media resources for
business than study respondents from other industries

1
Lenhart, Amanda. The Democratization of Online Social Networks. Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 8, 2009,
http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/41--The-Democratization-of-Online-Social-Networks.aspx.


3


• Small business decision makers in the Healthcare, Retail and Legal industries use
significantly fewer social media resources for business than study respondents from
other industries

• Across sole proprietors, micro businesses (1-9 employees) and small businesses
(10-99 employees), company size has little meaningful impact on the use of social
media resources for business information

• Looking specifically at small businesses with 10-99 employees, members of the
RESEARCH REPORT

senior management team (EVP, SVP, VP, GM) are significantly more likely to use
webinars and podcasts, and to ask questions on Q&A sites, than either middle
managers or C-level execs. On the other hand, C-level execs are significantly less
likely to visit company blogs and use Twitter to find or request business-relevant
information than senior or middle managers.

• Job role/department is not strongly related to the use of social media for business
among small business decision makers

• Small business decision makers at business-to-business (B2B) companies use both
significantly more social media resources for business than their business-to-
consumer (B2C) colleagues and, with a single exception (reading ratings and reviews
of business products and services) are significantly more likely to use each of the
business social media resources investigated in this study.

• A cross-sectional look at business social media usage by small business decision
makers with different degrees of experience using social media provides insights into
how social media usage is likely to evolve in the future.

A Request when Referencing or Sharing this Study
A good benchmarking study should generate significant discussion and debate, and we hope
that many of you will discuss one or more insights from this study in your own blog, web site,
publication, conference presentation and/or in other forums. Since this research took
considerable time and effort to produce – it is, after all, the largest study of business social
media use within North American companies to date – we have two simple requests:

1. Please use the following when referencing this report:

Source: Engaging Small Business Decision Makers through Social Media: A
2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study Report. Business.com,
December 7, 2009, http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-business-
through-social-media.

2. Provide your readers with a link to http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-
business-through-social-media where they can download their own copy of the
report. Do not link to your own copy of the PDF stored on your own web site or other
content sharing sites like SlideShare. While we understand the spirit of open content,
the brief registration required to access the study is not particularly onerous or
invasive, and also provides people interested in the study with the opportunity to
indicate their interest in participating in future Business.com studies about other
online marketing topics. Help us continue to offer top quality research at no cost by
linking to the report download page.


4


Top Social Media Resources for Business Information
In this study, we provided respondents with a list of different types of social media resources
and asked them to indicate which, if any, they currently use to get the information and
resources they need to do their jobs. The figure below shows the percentage of small
business decision maker respondents by the total number of social media resources for
business information they indicated using.

Here, and throughout the rest of this report, it is important to keep in mind that there is no “0”
RESEARCH REPORT

on the scale below – the 1,711 small business decision makers we profile here all use at
least one social media resource for business-relevant information. The overall average
number of social media resources used by participants in this study is 5.9. This does not
mean that the average North American small business decision maker uses nearly six
different social media resources to get the information they need to do their jobs on a day-to-
day basis. It does, however, suggest that small business decision makers who DO turn to
social media resources for business information use, on average, nearly six different sources.

Figure 1: Number of Social Media Resources Used for Business Information

Among small business decision makers using social media for business information, the most
frequently used resources were webinars or podcasts (67%) followed by ratings/reviews of
business products or services (63%) and visiting company/product profile pages on social
media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (61%).


5


Figure 2: Top Business Social Media Resources for Small Business Decision Makers
RESEARCH REPORT

Small business decision makers find webinars and podcasts to be valuable resources for
learning new skills and/or researching industries, products and services without the
downsides of attending in-person seminars (travel time and expense, reluctance to walk-out
of a seminar once the speaker has started). For example:


6


“The most useful social media resource is the webinars. I feel
that they offer the most, don't demand that I travel, spend a
lot of money, or even make a huge commitment of time. They
are usually well focused on a topic and therefore don't waste
my time with a lot of unrelated topics. If I don't find them
useful or on point I can quit and don't have to walk out on a
speaker.”
Sr. Management (EVP, VP, SVP, GM)
RESEARCH REPORT

10-19 Employee Company
Agriculture Industry

Webinars are also very convenient for professionals in rapidly changing or evolving industries
where ongoing training is essential. A C-level executive from a Financial Services company
explained why webinars are the most useful social media resource for business:

“Tax law is ever changing so we rely on webinars and other
instant media to update us on the latest changes in tax
accounting. Social media is critical to our industry.”
C-Level (CEO, CFO, President)
Financial Services Industry

The second most popular social media resource small business decision makers turn to is
ratings and reviews of products/services they may need for their business. Mentioned by 63%
of respondents. From reading business book reviews on Amazon.com to qualifying potential
products to resell through user ratings, online ratings and reviews provide valuable input into
the business buying process as long as these “sound honest and not like someone just put
them up there to make the company sound good” (Owner, 1-4 employee retail business).

On the other hand, small business decision makers seeking business-relevant information
through social media channels were least likely to use Twitter to find or request business-
related information (27%, although 53% search social media sites more generally), save
business-related links on social bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon or other
rd
(27%), and participate in discussions on 3 party web sites (29%).

Although Twitter fell to the bottom of the list of most used social media resources for
business, those actually using Twitter in this way are very positive about the business value.
We asked study participants to tell us about the MOST useful social media resource they’ve
found for business and Twitter topped this write-in list with small business decision makers
praising the ability to get quick feedback and access relevant business information. For
example:

“On Twitter, the people I follow provide me with more relevant
links and information than any other tool. It saves me time
and helps me learn about new technologies or innovative
ideas, as they are happening.”
C-Level (CEO, CFO, President)
Internet Industry


7


Or the following, from a member of the senior management team at a company in the
financial services industry:

“Twitter provides a quick connection to relevant businesses
and individuals who often provide helpful links to pertinent
resources, articles, and blog posts.”
Sr. Management (EVP, VP, SVP, GM)
RESEARCH REPORT

In general, companies interested in using social media to engage small business customers
and prospects would be wise to:

• Develop educational webinars and/or podcasts which address specific small
business needs in the process of introducing company products or services.

• Encourage, and carefully tend, online reviews of company products or services.

• Establish a presence on one or more major social networking sites and use this as a
hub for corporate social media initiatives.

• Participate in more focused online discussions where it is easy to find and respond to
questions specifically related to company products or services – such answering
questions on Q&A sites like LinkedIn Answers or Business.com Answers, or in online
business forums – rather than trying to work a promotional mention into discussions
rd
on 3 party web sites and blogs.

• Further investigate how their target audience is using Twitter for business today and
begin developing a Twitter strategy.

This is far from the end of the story, however. In the following sections we explore differences
in the use of social media for business information by company size, industry, job level and
job role to help companies targeting small business decision makers improve their social
media strategies.


8


Top Business Social Media Resources by Industry
The small business decision makers in this study differ across industries in their use of social
media as a resource for business information. In this section, we explore these differences to
provide the business social media usage benchmark information necessary to effectively
customize social media strategies to the unique preferences of small business decision
makers in twelve different industries.

To begin with, small business decision makers in the Internet & Online, Advertising &
RESEARCH REPORT

Marketing and Computers & Software industries use a significantly greater number of social
media web sites/resources than the average of those in other industries. Study participants in
the Healthcare, Retail and Legal industries, however, use significantly fewer social media
sites/resources for business information.

Figure 3: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Industry


9


Advertising & Marketing Industry
As we saw in the chart above, small business decision makers in the Advertising & Marketing
industry draw on a broader array of social media resources for business information than the
average of those in other industries. The chart below, showing the percentage of small
business decision makers in the Advertising & Marketing industry using each resource vs. the
percentage from other industries, reinforces this point – with the exception of ratings and
reviews, respondents from this industry are significantly more likely to use every one of the
listed social media sites/resources than the combined average of other industries.
RESEARCH REPORT

Figure 4: Social Media Use for Business – Advertising & Marketing Industry


10


Automotive Industry
Small business decision makers working in the Automotive industry show the greatest
preference for reading online ratings & reviews followed by downloading business-related
content from content sharing sites. In general, however, their use of different social media
resources for business information is similar to the average of respondents working in other
industries, with one exception – Automotive industry respondents were significantly less likely
to attend webinars or listen to podcasts.

Figure 5: Social Media Use for Business – Automotive Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


11


Computers & Software Industry
Small business decision makers from this industry are significantly more likely to visit
company blogs, subscribe to RSS feeds of business-related news or information sites and
participate in online business-related discussions. In fact, visiting company blogs is the
second most used business social media resource for those in the Computers & Software
industry, up from the fourth ranked resource across all respondents. Companies marketing to
small business decision makers in this industry should focus on establishing an informative,
engaging company blog if they haven’t done so already.
RESEARCH REPORT

Figure 6: Social Media Use for Business – Computers & Software Industry


12


Small business decision makers in the Financial Services industry are much more likely to
attend webinars or listen to podcasts than the average of study participants from other
industries. As described in the opening section of this report, the ongoing professional
education requirements in this industry make webinars/podcasts very useful and cost-
effective for this audience. On the other hand, respondents from this industry are significantly
LESS likely to visit company/product profile pages on social media sites like Facebook or
Twitter than respondents from other industries implying that a solid company presence on
major social networking sites is less important for companies targeting small business
RESEARCH REPORT

decision makers in the Financial services industry.

Figure 7: Social Media Use for Business – Financial Services Industry


13


Food & Beverage Industry
Study participants working in the Food & Beverage industry are average in the total number
of social media resources they draw on for business information but do show several
significant differences from those outside this industry. Specifically, small business decision
makers in the Food & Beverage industry are significantly more likely to read online user
ratings and reviews of business products or services – the most used resource for those in
this industry – and are also significantly more likely to search social media sites for business-
relevant information. Webinars and podcasts, however, are significantly less likely to be used
by respondents from this industry.
RESEARCH REPORT

Figure 8: Social Media Use for Business – Food & Beverage Industry


14


Healthcare Industry
Business decision makers from small companies in the Healthcare industry turn use fewer
social media resources for business information than the average for other industries. While
respondents from this industry were significantly more likely to attend webinars or listen to
podcasts than those from other industries, they are significantly less likely read or download
business-related content from content sharing sites, visit company blogs, subscribe to RSS
feeds, save business-related links on social bookmarking sites and use Twitter to find or
request business-related information.
RESEARCH REPORT

The use of social media for business information is relatively nascent in this industry,
suggesting a basic social media strategy focused on webinars, podcasts, facilitating online
product reviews and establishing a basic company presence on leading social networking
sites will be sufficient for attracting the target Healthcare audience.

Figure 9: Social Media Use for Business – Healthcare Industry


15


Industrial Goods & Services Industry
When it comes to using social media as a resource for business information, small business
decision makers in the Industrial Goods & Services industry are no different from the average
across all other industries. While a higher percentage of respondents from this industry
reported reading user ratings and reviews for business products and services, visiting
company/product profiles on social networking sites, and visiting company blogs than the
overall top activity (attending webinars or listening to podcasts), these were not significant
differences from the average respondent.
RESEARCH REPORT

Figure 10: Social Media Use for Business – Industrial Goods & Services Industry


16


Internet & Online Industry
Study participants working for companies primarily doing business online showed the highest
average number of social media resources used for business information (8.5 out of a
possible 13) – not all that surprising given that these respondents are likely to be highly
experienced with a broad range of online activities and technologies.

While respondents from this industry are significantly more likely to use almost all of the
social media resources for business information covered in this study, the fact that they’re
much more likely to engage in more participatory social media activities for business (e.g.,
RESEARCH REPORT

online business communities and forums, using Twitter to find or request business
information, etc.) is of particular interest.

Figure 11: Social Media Use for Business – Internet & Online Industry


17


Legal Industry
Small business decision makers in the Legal industry had the lowest average number of
social media resources used for business across the industries studied. In particular,
respondents in this industry were significantly less likely to seek-out business-relevant
information from company/product profile pages on social media sites like Facebook,
LinkedIn or Twitter, search for business-relevant information on social media sites, ask
questions on Q&A sites and save business-related links on social bookmarking sites.

Figure 12: Social Media Use for Business – Legal Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


18


Media & Entertainment Industry
When developing social media strategies to engage small business decision makers in the
Media & Entertainment industry, using the general guidelines discussed in the first section of
this report to prioritize initiatives is the best approach – respondents from this industry closely
mirror average use of social media for business information with no significant differences
from the norm.

Figure 13: Social Media Use for Business – Media & Entertainment Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


19


Real Estate & Construction Industry
Small business decision makers in the Real Estate & Construction industry are largely similar
to those from other industries in their use of social media resources for business information.
However, they are significantly less likely to attend webinars or listen to podcasts, and also
less likely to use Twitter to find or request business-related information. On the other hand,
they are significantly more likely to read or download business-related content from content
sharing sites than their peers in other industries.

Figure 14: Social Media Use for Business – Real Estate & Construction Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


20


Retail Industry
The Retail industry small business decision makers in this study used the second lowest
number of social media resources for business information, significantly below the overall
study average. More specifically, Retail industry respondents are significantly less likely to
view webinars or listen to podcasts (although these are still the second most popular social
media resource for this audience), read or download business-related content from content
sharing sites, search social media sites for business-related information, use RSS feeds and
participate in discussions on third-party web sites.
RESEARCH REPORT

Figure 15: Social Media Use for Business – Retail Industry


21


Top Business Social Media Resources by Company Size
The small business decision makers in this study did not differ in the number of social media
resources used for business, as shown in the chart below.

Figure 16: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Company Size
RESEARCH REPORT

As the chart on the following page shows, however, there were several significant differences
in the use of individual social media resources. Specifically, a significantly higher proportion
of decision makers from small companies (10-99 employees) view webinars or listen to
podcasts, visit company blogs and subscribe to RSS feeds of business-relevant information.
Respondents from this size company are also more likely to use Twitter to find business-
relevant information than respondents from micro businesses (1-9 employees), but not more
than sole proprietors.


22


Figure 17: Significant Differences in Business Social Media Usage by Company Size
RESEARCH REPORT

Despite these differences, the relative order of the most popular business social media
resources overall is unchanged, suggesting company size has little meaningful impact on
social media use across sole proprietors, micro and small business decision makers.


23


Top Business Social Media Resources by Job Level
In a prior report (the 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study), we described some slight
differences in business social media usage by senior management members in small vs. mid-
to large-sized companies – specifically, that senior management members in mid- to large-
sized companies are significantly more likely to use RSS feeds for business-relevant
information and use Twitter to find or request business-related information than their small
company peers.
RESEARCH REPORT

For this report, we looked specifically at respondents from companies with 10-99 employees
where job levels exist in a more meaningful way than for micro-businesses and sole
proprietors. Unlike the results we saw earlier for industry, there are no significant differences
in the number of social media resources used by job level for this group of respondents.

Figure 18: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Small Business (10-99
Employees) Job Level

Similar to the findings for company size, significant differences did appear when looking at
the use of specific social media resources for business across job levels as shown in the
chart on the next page. Members of the senior management team (EVP, SVP, VP, GM) are
significantly more likely to use webinars and podcasts, and to ask questions on Q&A sites,
than either middle managers or C-level execs. On the other hand, C-level execs are
significantly less likely to visit company blogs and use Twitter to find or request business-
relevant information than senior or middle managers.


24


Figure 19: Use of Social Media Resources for Business Information – By Small
Business (10-99 Employees) Decision Maker Job Level
RESEARCH REPORT


25


Top Business Social Media Resources by Job Role
Similar to job level, job role is not always a clear-cut concept for sole proprietors and micro
businesses. For example, in a four person marketing agency, does the agency head consider
themselves to be Senior/Corporate Management, Consulting, Marketing or Sales?

Restricting our analysis to the small business (10-99 employees) group where job role is
somewhat more meaningful, the only important difference worth highlighting is an obvious
one at this point – those working in Marketing or Corporate Communications use significantly
RESEARCH REPORT

more social media resources for business than their colleagues in other roles (6.9 vs. 5.8 for
those in other roles).

If you would like more details about the differences in business social media usage by job
role across a broader range of company sizes than we cover in this report, please download
our 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study report from the Business.com site at
http://www.business.com/info/b2b-social-media-benchmark-study.

Business Social Media Usage at B2B vs. B2C Companies
We provided very extensive coverage of the differences in corporate social media initiatives
between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) companies in the
2009 B2B Social Media Benchmark Study report mentioned in the prior section. In that
report, we categorized a company as B2B if more than two-thirds of company revenue came
from sales to other businesses. The bottom line is that, with some small exceptions, B2B
companies are much more active with corporate social media initiatives today than their B2C
counterparts.

Given this, we might expect B2B small business decision makers to have more experience
managing business social media initiatives, and perhaps be more likely themselves to turn to
social media resources for business information they need. The former is not true – B2B
company participants in this study are no more experienced with participating in or managing
business social media initiatives than respondents from B2C companies – but the latter is
most definitely true, as you’ll see in the next two charts.

B2B small business decision makers in this study used an average of 7.2 different social
media resources for business versus an average of 5.5 for their B2C colleagues.
Respondents from companies with mixed revenue (no more than two-thirds of revenue from
sales to either consumers or businesses) used an average of 6.1 different resources.


26


Figure 20: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Small Business
Decision Makers by Company Type
RESEARCH REPORT

With a single exception, reading ratings and reviews of business products and services, small
business decision makers at B2B companies have a higher percentage of respondents using
each of the business social media resources than their B2C counterparts as you can see
from the chart on the following page.


27


Figure 21: Use of Social Media Resources for Business Information – Small Business
Decision Makers by Company Type
RESEARCH REPORT

Why are small business decision makers at B2B companies so much more active users of
social media resources for business than B2C companies? It’s not clear at this point and we’ll
have to investigate this issue in more detail.


28


Predicting How Your Target Audience will Use Social Media for
Business in the Future
In this report we’ve shown that the number and types of social media resources used for
business information by small business decision makers vary by industry, company size, job
level and, to some extent, job role. By looking at the number and types of social media
resources used by small business decision makers with different levels of business social
media experience (in the form of years of experience managing or working on company
social media initiatives), we can also gain insight into how the use of social media as a
RESEARCH REPORT

business information resource is likely to evolve.

Understanding the types of social media resources most attractive to small business decision
makers when they first dip a toe in the social media waters, and the other types of resources
they tend to start using over time, is particularly important for companies targeting customers
in industries where social media is relatively nascent, such as the Legal, Retail and
Healthcare. While relatively limited social media initiatives may capture the attention of
potential customers in those industries at this point, customers will evolve in their use of
social media resources for business and companies will need to evolve their social media
programs with their target audience or face the possibility of competitors dominating these
“new” social media channels.

The chart below shows that the number of social media resources used for business
information is:

• Significantly higher with 1-2 years of business social media experience than with less
than one year of experience
• Not significantly different between one and six years of experience
• Significantly lower with seven or more years of experience than with one to six years,
but still significantly higher than those with under one year of experience

Its very likely that the social media pros with seven or more years of experience with
business social media initiatives found the social media resources that worked for them long
ago and are more reticent than pure business social media “newbies” or those with moderate
experience to try and/or participate in additional social media channels.


29


Figure 22: Average Number of Social Media Resources Used by Small Business
Decision Makers by Business Social Media Experience
RESEARCH REPORT

Digging into the use of specific social media resources for business, ratings and reviews for
business products and services is the only social media resource in this study where there is
not a significant change in usage related to experience with business social media.

As you’ll see in the chart below, the majority of business social media resources show
significant, increasing usage with experience. While you’ll notice that in many cases usage
drops in the group of small business decision makers with seven or more years of business
social media experience, this group still shows higher usage than the group of small business
decision makers with less than one year of experience. It may not be obvious at first glance,
but the overall trend is still linear.


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Figure 23: Social Media Resources where Usage Increases with Overall Experience
with Business Social Media
RESEARCH REPORT

On the other hand, there are several social media resources for business information where
the trend in usage with experience is not linear and is shaped more like an upside-down “U”.
The chart below shows that this is the case for attending webinars or listening to podcasts,
asking questions on business Q&A sites, and using Twitter to find or request business-
relevant information.


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Figure 24: Social Media Resources where Usage Increases then Drops with Overall
Experience with Business Social Media
RESEARCH REPORT

The reason these trends matter becomes more obvious when we look at the chart below
showing percentage of participants in this study with less than one year of experience
managing or participating in business social media initiatives. If a large portion of your target
audience has little experience with business social media, the charts above suggest where
business social media usage is headed for that industry. Conversely, if your target customer
industry is filled with business social media pros, now is not the time to focus your corporate
social media initiatives on webinars and podcasts as interest will be waning.


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Figure 25: Percentage of Small Business Decision Makers by Industry with <1 Year of
Experience with Business Social Media Initiatives
RESEARCH REPORT

For example, 45% of the small business decision maker respondents from the Retail industry
have less than one year of experience with business social media initiatives. Earlier in this
report we saw that Retail industry respondents were significantly less likely to search for
business-relevant information on social media sites (40% vs. an average of 55% for
respondents from other industries). We also see from the figure above that study participants
with 1-2 years of experience with business social media initiatives conduct searches for
business information on social media sites at a 31% higher rate than those with less than one
year of experience (63% vs. 48%). Add this all together and guess what? We’re likely to see
a significant rise in Retail industry small business decision makers searching social
media sites for business-relevant information in 2010.

While there are too many industry by social media experience by business social media
resource usage permutations to lay out in this report, we encourage you to try this exercise
for your own target audience to get a sense of the emerging trends.


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Additional Reports Based on this Research
The data set from Business.com’s Business Social Media Benchmarking Survey is a very
rich source of insights about a wide range of topics around the business use of social media.
The following reports based on this data set are available as of December 7, 2009:

2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study
Summarizes high-level findings from nearly 3,000 North American study participants,
providing a very useful benchmark for where businesses, and business people, find value
RESEARCH REPORT

today in social media across different activities and sites. This report can be downloaded
from http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study.

2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study
Unique insights from this research for business-to-business (B2B) companies, including how
business people use social media today, most popular types of social media initiatives among
B2B companies and the value B2B companies are finding in a variety of social media
initiatives, from maintaining company accounts/profiles on social media sites to participating
in business Q&A, social media monitoring, content sharing and social bookmarking. This
report can be downloaded from http://www.business.com/info/b2b-social-media-benchmark-
study.

Engaging Small Business Decision Makers Through Social Media
For B2B companies targeting small business customers, this report provides key insights into
how, and why, small business decision makers turn to social media resources for business-
relevant information in their day-to-day jobs. The report is based on responses from 1,711
small business decision makers currently using social media for business and is an essential
benchmarking resource for planning social media initiatives targeting small businesses. This
report can be downloaded from http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-business-
through-social-media. .

Upcoming Reports
We plan to release additional reports every few weeks throughout the fourth quarter of 2009
and early 2010 on topics including the following:

• Business social media newbies vs. pros
• Industry-specific insights
• Social media measurement
• Business profiles on social media sites
• Participating in question-and-answer (Q&A) sites for business
• Social media monitoring
• Business content sharing on social media sites
• Business social bookmarking

Follow Business.com on Twitter (http://twitter.com/B2BOnlineMktg) or subscribe to the RSS
feed for our B2B online marketing blog (http://feeds.feedburner.com/B2B-Online-Marketing-
Businesscom) to be alerted when additional reports are released.


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About the Study
The data in this report comes from Business.com’s Business Social Media Benchmarking
2
Study, an online survey conducted between August 11th and September 4th, 2009. Overall,
2,948 respondents from the United States or Canada qualified to participate in the study,
providing a total of 2,282 complete surveys (54%) and 1,943 partial responses. Additional
details about the complete set of survey participants are available in the 2009 Business
Social Media Benchmarking Study general report.
RESEARCH REPORT

IMPORTANT NOTE: This study focuses on benchmarking the activities and perspectives of
people already involved with social media for business (e.g., of companies using social
media, what portion maintain profiles on social media sites?). It is not intended as a
benchmark of the adoption of different social media practices across the general
business population (e.g., of all North American companies, what percentage maintain
profiles on social media sites?).

This specific report, Engaging Small Business Decision Makers Through Social Media, is
based on responses from 1,711 small company (<100 employees) participants in a middle
management (Director, Department Head, Supervisor) or above role in their companies who
currently use one or more social media resources for business-relevant information in their
day-to-day job.

Participant Profile for Small Business Decision Maker Respondents
Results reported here reflect a wide range of company sizes, industries and job roles.
Approximately 72% of respondents work at a “micro-business”, either as a sole proprietor or
a company with less than 10 employees.

Figure 26: Study Participants by Company Size

2
As an incentive to complete this lengthy survey, Business.com held a drawing for a $2,000 American Express® gift card
among eligible respondents.


35


The highest concentration of small business decision makers in this report work in the retail
industry (15%) followed by healthcare (11%), real estate and construction (9%) and
advertising or marketing (8%).

Figure 27: Study Participants by Industry
RESEARCH REPORT

Not surprisingly, senior/corporate managers (18%) make up the highest percentage of
participants followed by marketing (15%) and sales (12%) managers.

Figure 28: Study Participants by Job Role


36


Over three-quarters of the small business decision makers in this study are C-level – CEO,
CFO, CMO, President or other.

Figure 29: Study Participants by Job Level
RESEARCH REPORT

Nearly two-thirds of respondents work for companies where the majority of revenue (67%+)
comes from sales to consumers.

Figure 30: Study Participants by Company Type

Overall, 92% of small business decision makers in this study work for a company selling
either services only (46%) or selling both products and services (46%).


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Figure 31: Study Participants by Company Product / Service Focus
RESEARCH REPORT

Two-thirds of small business decision maker participants using social media as a business
information resource work for companies where 67% or more of company revenue comes
from sales to customers within their local area.

Figure 32: Study Participants by Primary Customer Location


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Contact
For media inquiries, questions, comments or suggestions related to this research, please
contact:

Dianne Molina
Sr Manager, Corporate Communications
310-586-4150
RESEARCH REPORT

dmolina@business.com


39


More Resources from Business.com…

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/B2BOnlineMktg

Visit our B2B marketing blog: http://blogs.business.com/b2b-online-marketing/

Sign-up for our B2B SEM e-newsletter: http://offers.business.com/content/newsletter

And get high-quality answers to your business
questions through our new Q&A site, Business.com
Answers: http://answers/business.com/


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