32% of Small-Business Owners Say Social Media Is Effective for Marketing

Social media gets a lot of buzz in the marketing world, but small-business owners might need some more convincing. According to a report from Bank of America, 32 percent of small-business owners said social media is an effective marketing tactic in October, down from 42 percent in April. This places social media behind word-of-mouth and customer referrals (87 percent); networking with other small-business owners (49 percent); advertising in print, broadcast, radio, etc. (41 percent); and direct mail or email (37 percent).

This report lends support to a recent survey from The Wall Street Journal and Vistage International, which found that just 3 percent of small-business owners surveyed Twitter had the potential to benefit them. Facebook got just a 14 percent response, while Google+ got a 4 percent response and Pinterest got a 2 percent response. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is the most used social media platform by small-business owners, who also noted that the social network for professionals has the most potential to help them (41 percent).

Nevertheless, maybe small-business owners are willing to give social media more of a chance in 2013. A survey from AWeber found that 70 percent of small businesses plan to increase their presence on Facebook, while 58 percent said the same of Twitter, 50 percent of Google+ and 49 percent of LinkedIn.