Sanjeev Aggarwal Laurie McCabe Brent Leary Arjun Aggarwal 06/07/2022 1 Highlights of 2011 SMB Social Business Study Small Business (1-99 employee) Segment © SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Jan 12, 2015
Sanjeev AggarwalLaurie McCabe
Brent LearyArjun Aggarwal
04/10/2023 1
Highlights of 2011 SMB Social Business StudySmall Business (1-99 employee) Segment
© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Agenda
• Small Business Social Media Adoption• Social Media Benefits and Value• Social Media Challenges• Examples of Small Business Social Media Tools and
Solutions• Information about 2012 SMB Group Research Studies
04/10/2023 2© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Summary of Key Findings
04/10/2023 3
Who
Challenges
Why
Benefits
Adoption accelerating
Trial and error
approach
Getting results
Fueling business growth
Respondent Demographics
04/10/2023 4
Financial Services/Banking/ Insurance; 6% Manufacturing - Process (Oil,
Gas, Pharmaceuticals); 2%Manufacturing - Discrete (Au-
tomobile, Electronic Equipment etc.); 3%
Healthcare, Medical & Dental; 4%
IT Services/technology/VAR/ systems integrator; 3%
Professional Services (Consult-ing, Accounting, Legal); 18%
Education; 2%
Government State and Local; 1%
Construction/ Real Estate; 9%
Retail; 13%Wholesale/Distribution; 6%
Utilities/Communications/Tele-
com; 1%
Agriculture; 2%
NGO or Not for Profit; 6%
Personal Services, including beauty, pet care, dry cleaning
services; 4%
Other; 19%
Company Size Breakdown
1-19 employees: 89%20-49 employees: 8%50-99 employees: 3%
Industry Breakdown
SBs Top Business Goals and Business Activities
04/10/2023 5
Does your company currently have any activities or programs in place for the following?
Total
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
5%9%
13%14%
16%17%
20%26%27%27%
35%35%
40%49%
Generate new leadsConnect with people who aren't customersImprove service/support and customer retentionImprove market awareness for the companyCreate more/better interaction with customers/prospectsGenerate more web site trafficMonitor and enhance company reputationGather competitive intelligence/researchAnalyze data to improve knowledge of market trends, etc.Improve internal collaboration
Top 5 SB Business Goals1. Attracting new customers: 30%2. Growing Revenue3. Maintaining Profitability4. Improving cash flow5. Improving customer satisfaction
and retention
Top activities that SBs engage in align squarely with top business
goals
SB Use/Plans for Social Media
• 49% of SBs are using social media today
• 31% plan to use it• SMBs that use social media in a
strategic and structured way are more likely to use it for more activities, use more channels and be satisfied or very satisfied with outcomes
• SBs are using social media centers to help achieve top business goals—focus is on customer facing/revenue generating activities
• In some cases--social media has reached/exceeded use of older traditional and digital media for these activities
04/10/2023 6
Which of the following best describes your company's use and/or planned use of social media to engage with your customers or
prospects?
Currently use social media in a strategic
and struc-tured way; 131; 23%
We don't cur-rently use so-
cial media, but plan to
do so within the next 12
months; 142; 25%
We do not currently use social media and have no
plans do so in the next 12
months; 171; 31%
Currently use social media in an ad hoc,
informal way; 114; 20%
Small Business
{49%
© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
How Do SBs Use/Plan to Use Social Media for these Activities?
Which of the following ways are you using OR planning to use social media for your business?
04/10/2023 7
Generate new leads; 22%
Connect with people who aren't cus-tomers; 21%
Improve market awareness for the company; 21%
Generate more web site traffic; 21%
Create more/better interaction with customers/prospects; 21%
Monitor and enhance and enhance company reputation; 18%
Improve service/support and customer retention; 17%
Bring voice of the customer into the company; 11%
Analyze data to improve knowledge of market trends, etc.; 11%
Gather competitive intelligence/research; 10%
Improve internal collaboration; 10%Get input for product development; 7% Aid new employee recruitment; 7%
© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Social media is becoming a key mechanism to
support key customer/revenue focused goals and
activities
Using social media to make the
phone ring, drive traffic to their
Web sites, physical locations
Role of Social Media in Helping SBs: Generate New Leads
What types of tools does your company use OR plan to use in the next 12 months to accomplish these activities?
04/10/2023 8
Total0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
45% 44%46%
42% 41%
% V
alid
Cas
es
© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Activity: Generate new leads
CR
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Role of Social Media in Helping SBs: Connect with People Who aren’t Customers
04/10/2023 9
What types of tools does your company use OR plan to use in the next 12 months to accomplish these activities?
Activity: Connect with people who aren’t customers
Total0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
37%
42%40%
42% 41%
% V
alid
Cas
es
CR
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Role of Social Media in Helping SBs: Improve Customer Service and Retention
04/10/2023 10
What types of tools does your company use OR plan to use in the next 12 months to accomplish these activities?
Activity: Improve Customer Service and Retention
Total0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
48%
43%
37%
43%39%
% V
alid
Cas
es
CR
M/c
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Role of Social Media in Helping SBs: Improve Market Awareness for the Company
04/10/2023 11
What types of tools does your company use OR plan to use in the next 12 months to accomplish these activities?
Activity: Improve Market Awareness for the Company
Total0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
46% 46%49% 49%
42%
% V
alid
Cas
es
CR
M/c
onta
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Activity: Create more/better interaction with customers/prospects
Role of Social Media in Helping SBs: Create More/Better Interaction with Customers/Prospects
04/10/2023 12
What types of tools does your company use OR plan to use in the next 12 months to accomplish these activities?
Total0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
35%37%
41%
32% 33%
Customer relationship/contact management applicationsEmail, web online chat, web conferencing, phoneSocial media (blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)Traditional print and/or broadcast advertising, direct mailSearch engine marketing (i.e. Google AdWords)
% V
alid
Cas
es
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© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
How Satisfied Are SBs with the Results they Are Achieving from Social Media in these Areas?
How satisfied are you with the results you are achieving from your current use and investment in social media?
04/10/2023 13© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Generate new leads and/or sales
Improve market awareness for the company
Generate more web site traffic
Connect with people who aren't customers
Monitor and enhance and enhance company reputation
Improve service/support and customer retention
Gather competitive intelligence/research
Aid new employee recruitment
Create more/better interaction with customers/prospects
Improve internal collaboration
Analyze data to improve knowledge of market trends, etc.
Bring voice of the customer into the company
Get input for product development
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
12%
12%
14%
14%
15%
16%
17%
17%
18%
19%
22%
26%
30%
40%
45%
40%
45%
44%
48%
46%
59%
50%
44%
32%
38%
28%
39%
37%
37%
28%
34%
30%
26%
23%
23%
30%
34%
28%
38%
8%
6%
9%
12%
6%
6%
8%
0%
9%
7%
7%
7%
4%
0%
0%
0%
1%
0%
0%
2%
0%
0%
0%
4%
0%
0%
56%
58%
59%
52%
59%
57%
59%
Top Social Media Channels SBs Use and Plan to Use
Which of the following social media channels does your company proactively use
OR plan to use to help you engage and interact with customers and prospects?
04/10/2023 14© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Geo location service (e.g. Foursquare)
Coupon services (Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.)
Social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious, Reddit, etc. to favorite and share in-formation
User review sites (e.g. Yelp! Epinions, Amazon.com, Angie's List, etc.)
Company branded blog(s)
Company YouTube presence to post videos about company, products, expertise, etc.
Company/individual Twitter handles to represent and engage the company
Company participation in relevant LinkedIn forums, discussions, etc.
Post comments on related blogs
Company participation in industry-specific communities
Industry-specific online social communities
Engage and/or post content on relevant Facebook groups
Company Facebook page
0%10%
20%30%
40%50%
60%70%
80%90%
100%
4%
7%
8%
12%
13%
14%
17%
20%
20%
22%
22%
28%
37%
10%
17%
13%
19%
31%
28%
20%
26%
23%
32%
26%
26%
35%
86%
76%
80%
69%
56%
58%
62%
54%
58%
46%
53%
46%
28%
Currently Use Plan to use in next 12 months No plans to use
52%
48%
44%
44%
62%
46%
42%
How Beneficial are Social Media Channels to SBs?
How beneficial are these social media channels in helping your business engage and interact with customers and prospects?
04/10/2023 15© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Sample Size = Variable
Company/individual Twitter handles to represent and engage the company
Company participation in relevant LinkedIn forums, discussions, etc.
Geo location service (e.g. Foursquare)
Post comments on related blogs
Industry-specific online social communities
Social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious, Reddit, etc. to favorite and share informa-tion
Company Facebook page
Engage and/or post content on relevant Facebook groups
Company YouTube presence to post videos about company, products, expertise, etc.
Company participation in industry-specific communities
User review sites (e.g. Yelp! Epinions, Amazon.com, Angie's List, etc.)
Company branded blog(s)
Coupon services (Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.)
0%10%
20%30%
40%50%
60%70%
80%90%
100%
19%
22%
27%
27%
29%
30%
36%
36%
37%
37%
39%
42%
47%
60%
62%
32%
54%
66%
56%
51%
48%
45%
59%
45%
51%
45%
11%
10%
19%
9%
3%
14%
6%
11%
13%
3%
9%
1%
8%
11%
7%
22%
10%
2%
0%
8%
5%
4%
1%
7%
6%
0%
Very beneficial Somewhat beneficialNot beneficial Have not used long enough to decide
How Frequently Do SBs Use Social Media Channels?
How frequently does your company uses the following tools to engage with customers and/or prospects?
04/10/2023 16© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Post comments on related blogs
Company participation in relevant LinkedIn forums, discussions, etc.
Company participation in industry-specific communities
Geo location service (e.g. Foursquare)
Industry-specific online social communities
Company YouTube presence to post videos about company, products, exper-tise, etc.
Social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious, Reddit, etc. to favorite and share information
Engage and/or post content on relevant Facebook groups
User review sites (e.g. Yelp! Epinions, Amazon.com, Angie's List, etc.)
Company branded blog(s)
Company/individual Twitter handles to represent and engage the company
Company Facebook page
Coupon services (Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
6%
9%
11%
13%
14%
14%
16%
19%
22%
24%
25%
29%
32%
46%
37%
39%
45%
47%
23%
29%
47%
37%
31%
34%
35%
26%
15%
28%
23%
1%
13%
20%
34%
15%
13%
17%
17%
20%
14%
15%
14%
12%
9%
9%
24%
14%
9%
14%
17%
10%
8%
7%
18%
12%
16%
32%
17%
18%
8%
10%
14%
11%
14%
8%
20%
Daily At least once per week At least once every two weeks
At least monthly Use randomly based on timing of news, announcements, events
SB Differences in Expected Change in Annual Revenues
04/10/2023 17© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Currently use Social Media in a strategic and structured way
Currently use Social Media in an ad hoc, informal way
We don't currently use Social Media, but plan to do so within the next 12 months
Do not currently use Social Media and have no plans to do so in next 12 months
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
16%
13%
15%
12%
17%
20%
18%
16%
41%
25%
25%
23%
11%
19%
22%
32%
7%
12%
9%
5%
4%
6%
10%
7%
4%
5%
2%
5%
Increase in revenues of more than 20% Increase in revenues between 10%-20%Increase in revenues between 1%-9%% Revenues to remain more or less flatDecrease in revenues between 1%-9% Decrease in revenues of more than 10%Don't know
74% expect an increase
51% expect an increase
04/10/2023 18
Top Challenges SBs Have in Getting Value from Social Media
• Too busy running the business day to day
• Lack of time, expertise and money
• Ever accelerating rate and pace of change and “new stuff” o Tough to decipher what all
these do, let alone how to effectively incorporate them
• Hard to integrate with other sales/marketing activities
• Difficult to measure the value
What are your company's top 3 challenges in getting value from using social media? Please rank importance.
© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
Fear that employees won't do a good job represent-ing the company
Too difficult to engage in social media activities
Difficult to analyze social information to understand customer sentiment
Unable to accurately measure the value of our social media
Difficult to integrate social media with other market-ing, sales and/or customer service activities
Can't decide what social media tactics and strategies will work well for our company
Not enough time to engage is social media activities
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
5%
6%
11%
14%
15%
20%
30%
Importance of and Plans to Link Marketing, Sales and Customer Service Apps/Processes with Social Media
How important is it to your company to link traditional marketing, sales and customer service applications and business processes with social media tools?
04/10/2023 19
Total0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
15%
21%
27% 27%
9%
0%
Very important, it is a top priorityImportant, but we don't have the time and/or resources to do itImportant, we will do it on an opportunistic basisSomewhat important, but not an immediate priorityNot important at allOther (list)
Colu
mn
%
© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
48%
Social Media Roles and Involvement
04/10/2023 20
What departments in your company are involved in making social media decisions?
Marketing; 30%
PR; 26%
Sales; 26%
Service; 28%
IT; 20%
Business Owner; 22%
Product Development; 23%
Human Resources; 22%
Decision-making is dispersed across multiple job titles, but marketing, service, sales and PR are
often involved
Owner/ President / CEO; 47%
Partner; 15%
Office manager; 12%
CIO/IT manager; 2%
Finance manager; 3%
Sales manager; 4%
Marketing manager; 4%
Human Resources manager; 2%
Other; 11%
What is your job title?
Social Media Monitoring and Management
04/10/2023 21
Does your company use or plan to use any FREE (and PAID) tools or products to monitor and manage social media?
Current Total 80 Current Total 10Facebook 2 Lithium 2Google Alerts 63 Radian6 2
Hootsuite 5Reputation Manager 5
Tweetdeck 11 Google Alerts 1LinkedIn 1
Planned Total 8 Planned Total 24TweetDeck 2 Radian6 2Don't know/Researching 6 Lithium 5
Vocus 1Reputation Manger 1Green Media Toolshed 1Constant Contact 1Don't know/Researching 13
Free Tools Paid Tools
SBs need to monitor and manage their brand in
social media—but its hard to do
Social Media Budgets
What is your company's annual budget for social media related projects in 2011 (NOT including salaries of company staff involved)?
04/10/2023 22© SMB Group and CRM Essentials
less than $500; 22%
$500-$999; 13%
$1,000 - $2,499; 10%
$2,500-$4,999; 7%$5,000 - $9,999; 6%
$10,000 - $24,999; 4%
$25,000 - $49,999; 3%
$50,000 - $100,000; 2%more than $100,000; 1%
Don't know; 6%
No formal budget al-located to this; 26%
• 26% of SBs have no formal budget for social media. • 35% of SBs spend less than $1,000/year• Average spend:
• 1-19 employees: $4,900
• 20-99 employees: $8,800
23
SBs Need to Integrate Social Media with Contact Management and Marketing
• Social business requires new tools to manage and track relationships—ability to easily manage social contact information, status updates and social profiles with other contact data
• Drive more business with social and online marketing investments
• Spot new opportunities and areas that need improvement
• Save time by managing and integrating contact/customer interactions across multiple social media venues and with other sales and marketing functions
• Benchmark with competitors
• SBs need one place to manage incoming and outbound online interactions efficiently
Nimble: Contact Management and Social Integration
• Facebook-like user interface
• Connect contacts, calendars, communications and social conversations in one place
• Listen to and engage any individual to attract and retain customers
• HubSpot integration
• Wufoo integration
04/10/2023 24
BatchBook: Contact Management and Social Integration
• Central place to track contacts and see what they are talking about on social sites
• Search social media to see what contacts are talking about in social spaces from contact pages.
• Build social media into workflow so users can follow, retweet, favorite and/or reply to Twitter from BatchBook, and save individual tweets as Communications or To-Dos.
• Customizable dashboard: Search the Internet to see where the company or product is being mentioned and respond from BatchBook.
• Open APIs for easy integration • The Small Business Web
04/10/2023 25
04/10/2023 26
The Small Business Web
04/10/2023 27
Social Software Using Traditional CRM as Platform to create Social CRM on Mobile Devices
SproutSocial: Social Management and Lead Generation
• Dashboard: aggregates relevant conversations across the web and social channels into one place
• Inbox: puts everything in one stream. • Smart Search: monitors the social
web to find potential customers using location, interests and profile information.
• Reporting & analytics: analytics for Twitter, Google Analytics and Facebook Fan Pages
• Scheduler: scheduling and delivery for social messages.
• Contact management: keeps track of all communication history, user profile information, notes, reminders, etc.
04/10/2023 28
Rapportive: Integrating Social Feeds with Gmail
• Brings social media contact information into Gmail
• Automates the work of harvesting and displaying social info
04/10/2023 29
Connected : Social-centric Contact Management
• Universal Address Book that includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Email, blogs and more.
• Daily Agenda function — a daily email about your meetings and their context, recent status updates, reminder of all previous meetings. It’s the equivalent of your personal daily briefing
• Recently acquired by LinkedIn
04/10/2023 30
Google+: Opportunity to Extend Contact Relationships
• Circles allow for more contextual group interactions (social lists)
• Opportunity to collaborate with customers/prospects in social settings more easily while tying activity to contact record
• More integrated channels to easily engage contacts (video, chat, email, etc.)
04/10/2023 31
Shoutlet: Facebook Integration/Management
• Manage multiple platform communities in one central location
• View user-level social profiles that give a snapshot of a person’s social data and their interaction history with your Facebook
• Get email alerts for activity on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
• Shoutlet’s Influencer Score ranks Facebook fans according to post frequency
04/10/2023 32
Marchex Reputation Management
• Compiles content from 8,000+ online sources and provides analysis on what people are saying about the brand and competitors
• Tracks and analyzes online listings, comments, critiques and glowing reviews about your business -- all in one place.
04/10/2023 33
SMB Group Planned 2012 Research Agenda
Topic Research Perspective Timeframe Credits†]
SMB Mobile Solutions Market Survey Study
Quantitative SMB
Survey (1 to 1,000 employees
February-March 2012
18
Social Business and Collaboration SMB Market Survey Study
Quantitative SMB Survey(1 to 1,000 employees)
April/May 2012 18
SMB Routes to Market Survey Study
Quantitative SMB Survey(1 to 1,000 employees)
Sept./Oct. 2012 18
SMB Channel Readiness Survey Study
Blended qualitative/quan
titative study Assesses SMB
channel readiness for cloud, mobile
and social offerings
October/November 2012 24
*Survey study topics may change and new studies may be added to best meet our clients’ requirements.
†Each credit is $1,000
2012 SMB
Social
Business
Study!The 2012 Social Business and Collaboration Study will refresh the 2011 version. It will zero in on how SMB social business trends, and compare 2012 trends to 2011. Sponsorship opportunities are available--please let us know if you’re interested!
Contact: [email protected]