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Small Business Are Using Social Media More

According to the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, the relationship between social media and small businesses  have doubled in the past year from 12% to 24% in the United States.

The study which was released earlier this week found that roughly one in five small businesses have embraced social media and are integrating those sites into their business strategy.  Among the favored sites in the survey, Facebook and LinkedIn made the list.  45% of those surveyed businesses have said they believe that within a year or less, they saw initiatives. 

Customers are happy with businesses with social media because it’s a great customer service tool.  The survey says, “Small businesses are highly successful at answering customer questions, ensuring customer satisfaction, showing empathy, providing consistent service, resolving problems and winning repeat business.  Four of the six customer service dimensions have gotten stronger compared to a year ago, and one of these, ensuring customer satisfaction, is significantly higher”

“Clearly social media has become a valuable tool for small businesses,” said Jennifer Van Grove, of Mashable.com, “but we’re especially curious to see how Twitter adoption rates fluctuate over the time. While we expect more small businesses to use Twitter as a customer service channel in the year ahead, as it stands, Facebook and LinkedIn have become the predominant platforms for small business owners.”