Small Business Finance News
New Report Links Profits To Social Media
Written by Jenna Weiner
Published: 6/9/2011
A new report shows more businesses worldwide earning profits thanks to social media.
Small business owners will be interested in a newly released Regus report describing how and why more companies in the U.S. and abroad are using social media.
Regus identified a dual motive for companies using social media: to gain new customers and keep the ones they have.
Business social networks like LinkedIn are especially fruitful for meeting the goal of gaining new clients. According to the report, 47 percent of businesses globally reported winning new business via these networks.
Even more of the businesses surveyed (52 percent) indicated they use social network channels to communicate with existing customers and “keep them up-to-date.”
The increased use of social media networks is associated with more money being spent in that direction: 38 percent of U.S. companies reported allocating as much as 20 percent of their marketing budgets for social networking purposes.
The growing prevalence of social media might not be news for small business owners, but those hesitant to earmark more money in this area might be swayed by the bottom line impact of using social media. In the U.S., 32 percent of companies not using social media to attract new business turned a profit last year, while this number jumped to 43 percent for those that were using social media.
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