As a small business marketing firm,we’ve seen firsthand the big impact an effective social media program can have. But most of our information was anecdotal, and we wanted to understand how social media was being used on a wider scale. We began to look for more studies on how companies were using social media—and their results. While many surveys have looked into how consumers and large companies use social media, fewer have examined the use of social media by small companies. It was that lack of data which drove us to conduct several surveys in mid-2010.

In the world of social media, a year is a long time, and the social landscape can change dramatically. It’s time to see what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and where we’re heading in the future.   In this follow-up survey, small businesses are defined as companies with 1-50 employees. It is important to note this survey did not attempt to measure the number of small businesses using social media, but rather how existing social business users are employing the tools.

This small business social media survey was conducted entirely online from May 1 – July 1, 2011. As you may know, Google Plus launched in late June, and was not included as a choice in the study. Links to the survey were sent via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and email. It was also publicized on www.roundpeg2020.wpengine.com and www.MarketingTechBlog.com. We received 243 responses.How do you compare to your fellow small business owners?

Click here to download the white paper.  https://roundpeg.biz/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/White-Paper-Small-Busines-Big-Impact.pdf   Please share the link with others via facebook or twitter.  After you have read through the results, we would love to know what surprised you the most.

This was also the topic of my presentation at Blog Indiana, and if you would like a copy of the slides, you can download them from slideshare.