I didn’t conducted any surveys on this, but using Google Insights for Search tool (read my previous article about Small Business Global Outlook, using Google Insights as analytical tool,) we can get a big picture of what people are searching for and what people are having keen interest in.
This time, I am curious about the insights on social media in small business. The results are interesting and shocking.
Small business is NOT embracing social media – yet
Mashable.com’s article about how small business is using social media, referring to a release from Robert H. Smith School of Business – University of Maryland, shows a growing trend of small business owners implementing social media into their business.
The Robert H. Smith School of Business release shows that US small business adopting social media has doubled since 2009, from 12% to 24%.
Although this seems encouraging, I think that 24% is a pretty small percentage compared to the hype surrounding social media these days. Furthermore, please note that the growth figure is on US Small Businesses. What about the rest of the world?
I couldn’t find any data on global figures, but using Google Insights for Search can give you a nice big picture. So, check this out:
The above shows healthy growth in Google searches on social media related to small business. However, Google Insights warned that less than 10% of searches containing the “social media” search terms belong to the Small Business category – not nice. Here’s another interesting graph to show:
Why the ‘blue bar’ is on United States only? It signifies that the rest of the world’s interest on social media in small business is minimal or even non existent.
It’s probably not that accurate as Google only deliver about 20% of web traffic from global population who has access to the Internet, but 20% is enough to let us know the big picture: Global small business owners are clearly NOT embracing social media – yet.
For a complete view, please visit Google Insights on social media and small business.
Global small business owners: Implement social media strategies NOW
The above data is not all gloom and doom – those represent a huge opportunity for small business owners to gain an edge over the competition using social media. I’ve started to see the big guys in my home country implemented social media strategies – the rest will follow, eventually, but NOT YET; this also applies to the US.
So, make sure you benefit (and profit) from this window of opportunity – before it’s all too late, as social media’s impact on small business is growing exponentially, worldwide.
Ivan Widjaya
Social media in small business