How Small Businesses Have Gone Digital (Infographic)

Once again, happy Small Business Week! We hope you’re celebrating, as we are. While our celebrations have been mostly virtual, such as sharing how small businesses use content marketing and spending every free moment reading the #SBW14 Twitter stream.

We may not have thrown a celebration, gone to a meetup, or surveyed thousands of business owners, but we do want to help share the information we’ve received. That includes the following infographic from Webs. Webs, a provider of digital marketing solutions for small businesses and a subsidiary of Vistaprint, surveyed over 2,000 small business owners with less than 10 employees. What did they find?

The Small Business Has Gone Digital

Sometimes SMBs get a rep for being “behind the times,” but it’s usually undeserved. Especially in 2014, because:

• 63% of small businesses use digital products in their marketing strategy (Tweet this)


• 61% of them use a website or have one in the plans (Tweet this)


• 59% of small businesses used DIY tools to build their website (Tweet this)


• 80% of small business owners are their own webmaster (Tweet this)


• 43% website owners picked a website domain name at or before the time they launched their businesses (Tweet this)

The Small Business Has Embraced Social

Small businesses have embraced using social media marketing, likely because it can be a super cost-effective way to reach old and new customers and create brand awareness:

• 46% of small business owners have, or plan to create, a social profile for their business (Tweet this)


• 65% of small businesses with Facebook profiles use or are considering using Facebook advertising (Tweet this)


• 88% of those with social profiles list Facebook as a top social media channel for marketing their businesses (Tweet this)


• 39% of those surveyed listed LinkedIn as their top social marketing channel (Tweet this)


• 31% of those with social profiled say Twitter is the best social media channel for their business (Tweet this)

SMB Digital Use is Drived By Acquisition

Why do small business owners go online? Overwhelmingly, it’s because they recognize that the internet holds tons of customers just waiting to find their business. Reach out to them, and business will grow.

• 63% agree the top motivator for getting a website is to generate new customer leads (Tweet this)


• Showcasing products and services was the #2 reason for getting a website (Tweet this)


• The top three reasons Facebook users reported for creating a business page were customer acquisition (62%), building a network of followers (50%), and increasing brand awareness (45%) (Tweet this)

How does your small business use digital products?

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