Social media marketing plays an ever-increasing role for businesses across the world and we are not just making a statement, but drawing conclusions from a recent survey conducted by The Manifest, a business news website in the USA.
The authors of the survey wanted to know how small businesses use digital marketing channels to promote their products and find new customers. However, the results are not very surprising, but worth analysing in detail.
Small Businesses Rely on Digital Marketing for Promotion
Unable to compete with big brands for prominent outdoor advertising, TV commercials and banner ads on very popular websites, small business owners thrive on social media marketing.
First of all, it is worth noting that the age of the local paper ads and corner store notice board is nearing its end. For the first time in a major survey, traditional marketing strategies (31% of respondents) are exceeded by digital marketing channels (35% of respondents).
There is another aspect involved. For traditional marketing campaigns, there is a significant time lag before results come in. Thus, small businesses have to keep spending for a while, until they realise that a specific campaign is not working. On the contrary, with digital marketing, they get instant feedback and analytical data. This helps them allocate their small budgets in a more cost-effective manner.
Let us focus now on what really interests us: social media marketing. According to the survey, it ranks at the top of the promotional strategies small business owners use:
- 63% social media
- 54% website
- 35% SEO.
Where the Money Goes: Social Media Marketing, Videos, and SEO
The importance of social media is apparent even when the survey came to the issue of spending. No less than 73% of the respondents said that they invest in social media. On the other hand, only half of them still spend on SEO and one third (34%) create videos as part of their digital marketing strategies.
This is to be expected. After all, Google Adwords requires special skills and knowledge. If you do not perform your keyword research carefully and if you do not understand Google’s complex CPC bidding mechanism, you can lose a lot of money with minimum results to show.
By comparison, social media platforms, especially Facebook™, make it easy for small business owners to create ads, select the ideal audience, placement and budget. Therefore, the fact that you can monitor and adjust your ad campaigns in real-time is also a big bonus for small companies with a tight marketing budget.
Competition Will Rise Steeply in Social Media Marketing
Next, the authors of the survey focused on how small business owners plan to allocate their marketing budgets. This is where the results are truly interesting and worth noting. 95% of the respondents said that they will increase their digital marketing spending in 2019. Out of them, social media is the top choice – 63%.
Take a moment and read that again. Even if we are talking of a sample group of business owners, their answers reveal a trend. More money will be poured into social media ads and boosted posts. The fight for premium ad space on Facebook™, Messenger, Instagram, and other social media platforms will be harsher.
What You Should Take Away from This Survey
First of all, you should not panic. You are already familiar with the fact that digital marketing spending grows from year to year. And so does the competition.
Thus, first of all, you should take a look at your own social media marketing budget and decide whether it is still adequate for your needs. Secondly, you should revisit your marketing strategy, perform a social media audit and weed out all the tactics and platforms that cost you money without satisfactory results.
Last but not least, remember that you can always count on our team at Adchief to help you with your Facebook™ ad campaigns and helpful advice to further your marketing plans and strategies.