A new survey of the ways small businesses are using online marketing tools confirms a theory we have based on the email we receive requesting helpful advice for managing a small business website:

80 percent of small businesses who have a website manage the site themselves

(Unfortunately, that sometimes means they don’t manage it as often as they should.) The Webs Small Business Digital Usage Survey, conducted between March 10-15, indicates that most small businesses have some digital component to their marketing strategy. But it also shows there are a lot of small businesses that don’t. To coincide with Small Business Week, Webs released the infographic (below) featuring findings of the survey.*

Here are some of the highlights:

Most small businesses use digital marketing tools, but nearly 37 percent don’t

• 63 percent of small business owners use digital products as part or all of their marketing strategy, most combining digital and print.
• 61 percent use, or plan to use, a website, online store, or mobile website.
• 59 percent of those with a website created it with DIY tools.
• 80 percent of website owners are their own webmasters.
• 43 percent of website owners picked a website domain name at or before the time they launched their businesses.

Almost half of small businesses use social media

• 46 percent of small business owners have, or plan to create, a social profile for their business.
• 88 percent of those with social profiles list Facebook as a top social media channel for marketing their businesses, followed by LinkedIn (39 percent), Twitter (31 percent), Google+ (22 percent), Pinterest (20 percent), and YouTube (17 percent).
• 65 percent of those with Facebook business profiles use or are considering using Facebook advertising.

Small business owners say acquiring new customers is the top motivator for setting up a website

• 63 percent agree the top motivator for getting a website is to generate new customer leads. Showcasing products and services is second (44 percent) and providing basic company information third (42 percent).
• The top three reasons Facebook users reported for creating a business page were customer acquisition (62 percent), building a network of followers (50 percent), and increasing brand awareness (45 percent).

*As we always advise, sponsored research can be helpful, but not always scientific.

(Source: Webs.com)

There’s a 100% chance you use the internet to help run your business (how else would you land here?). Share what your personal experience has been in using digital marketing tools for your business by adding a comment below.