BizLaunch Study Finds 78% of Business Owners are Using Social Media

TORONTO, ON, September 26, 2012 (Press-News.org) Toronto, Ontario - September 24, 2012 - A recent survey from BizLaunch found that 78% of small business owners are now using social media as part of their overall marketing efforts.

According to the research, the top three reasons why business owners are using social media is to build awareness, get more leads, and to interact with their customers. The top two most used sites by business owners were Facebook (69%), LinkedIn (50%), while Twitter followed closely behind at 48%.

"Small business owners see the value in social media," says Andrew Patricio, Founder of BizLaunch. "They understand that it can be used to generate leads and sales, but they aren't quite sure how to make it work for their business."

The top two challenges that business owners listed with regard to social media was using it properly and getting interaction from their followers. "These challenges are common to all companies whether they're big corporations or small businesses," says Andrew. "Some brands have over 100,000 likes, but they still aren't getting the interaction they want from their followers."

Another objective of the study was to understand the social media habits of small business owners. The survey found that 49% of respondents were using social media at least once a day or more, and 52% of small business owners normally checked their company's social media accounts before 12 pm. This suggests that the best timing to reach business owners is in the morning.
The survey also asked what makes a small business owner follow or stop following a particular brand on social media. The number one reason that small business owners cited was because the brand provides them with interesting information. On the other hand, the number one reason that business owners stop following a particular brand is because they feel like the content isn't relevant to them.

"This goes to show that small business owners want good content," says Andrew. "At the end of the day, they want to become better business owners, so if you can provide educational tools, videos, or other content to help them do that then they'll be more likely to trust you with their business in the future."

Over the past eight years, BizLaunch has been providing educational small business content to large corporations such as Purolator, Deluxe, and ATB Financial. "We want to help large companies understand how small business owners operate, and on the other hand, we want to help small businesses owners become successful."

Approximately 200 business owners participated in the survey, which was used to develop an eBook entitled, Best Practices for Reaching Business Owners on Social Media.

BizLaunch is the trusted source of small business content and advice. As small business experts, BizLaunch creates webinars, seminars and other educational content to help business owners succeed. For more information please visit http://www.bizlaunch.com.