Last summer we surveyed small business owners to understand how they were using social media. The results were documented in a series of white papers.
A lot has changed in the last year. My perception is that more businesses then ever are engaged in social media, or at least testing the waters. It that is the case, it seems like a good time to revisit the topic with another study.
Here were some of the 2010 Small Business Social Media Study Results:
- If small business owners are using social media, they are committing time to the process, with 64% indicating they are spending more than 30 minutes a day on social media. So where are they hanging out? Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter were all quite common, with 3/4 of the respondents saying they have profiles on all three. Most common – Profiles on LinkedIn just barely edged out profiles on Facebook with Twitter close behind.
- When asked which was their primary network, I wasn’t surprised to see Facebook top the charts. Almost half of the respondents said Facebook was their primary network. The simple user interface, makes it easy to transition back and forth from business to personal. And in the real world small business owners do that on a regular basis
It will only take a few minutes to complete the survey. We will publish some of the results here as the responses start to come in!
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The results are starting to come in, and one of the most noticeable differences is the amount of time small business owners are spending on social media. A year ago the vast majority of respondents were spending less than one hour a day. This year there is a clear shift toward more time on social media. Is it paying off? Watch for more updates as the results continue to trickle in. 
