In Practical Social Media, we’ve talked about various ways in which Social Media can help small businesses.  Here is a confirmation that small businesses continue to use and have been helped greatly by social media marketing.  According to “Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010” from Ad-ology, small businesses and social media is a beneficial partnership that can only reap positive results and rewards for the business owners.

According to Emarketer, “lead generation is the biggest benefit of social networking for US small businesses.” Other benefits include, ‘keeping up with the industry’, ‘monitoring what is being said about your business’, ‘resolving problems’ and ‘improving customer experience.’  Check out the chart below, which summarizes the study and shows the percentage with which the respondents rated the benefits ‘Very beneficial,’ or ‘Somewhat beneficial.’

Facebook ranks highest as the most beneficial social networking site, and the most likely to be used. LinkedIn and Twitter rank second.

What are the biggest roadblocks to small business and using social media? Small business owners claim that their “customers do not use social networks.”  They also point out that they do not have the time or the manpower to do the social networking for them. In Practical Social Media, we can guide you to implement your social media campaign on your own, with the expertise and skill possessed by good social media marketers.  It is not impossible to include social media marketing activities in your busy day. Learn more about Practical Social Media to find out simple ways you can use social media for your business marketing.