A new report from LinkedIn found that the majority of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are turning to social media for growth. In fact according to a LinkedIn case study released this week it states that 81% of SMBs are using social media, and of those that use social, 94% do so for marketing purpose.

Social media has become the catalyst to “hyper growth” for many companies, or those that self-reported “significant” year over year revenue growth. The Hyper growth companies included in the survey was approximately 16% of the entire group, 91% said social media helped “increase awareness” of their brand, while 82% said it helped them generate “new leads.” Nearly three quarters of the hyper growth companies increased their social media budgets last year.
“We know that for SMBs the greatest challenge is attracting and retaining customers,” says Lana Khavinson, a senior product manager at LinkedIn who oversees the company’s SMB initiatives. “Here is a really clear indicator of the value that social media is providing to companies that are rapidly growing.”
The data reported is essential to the growth of LinkedIn, which has “millions” of members who are small business entrepreneurs, says Khavinson. It was also revealed this week that LinkedIn will be launching a dedicated website to help SMBs utilise LinkedIn for growth and marketing purposes.
The case study will be equally reassuring for other social networks, particularly social media giants Facebook and Twitter. Facebook, for one, has a lot to gain by attracting small business advertising. The platform has more than 1 million advertisers, but 25 million businesses have active Facebook pages, which means a lot of untapped potential ad revenue.
Twitter expanded its self-serve advertising platform overseas last quarter to try and entice SMBs in Canada, the UK and Ireland. The expansion was further evidence that the company sees value in reaching smaller advertisers.
The report defines a “small business” as having revenue between $1 million and $9.9 million; a “medium business” has revenues between $10 million and $49.9 million.
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