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â–¶ Small Businesses More Digital/Social: Small business owners see social media as a key to customer engagement, says a survey by Constant Contact. In the study, small businesses reported an increased use of social media tools, viewing these tools as additive and complementary to other marketing activities. Specific findings include:
• 63% cite Facebook and 30.7% mention Twitter as important tools for marketing, up from 50.5% and 25.6%, respectively, from a March 2010 survey.
• Other online tools rate as very important as tools for finding new customers: 68.8% rate a company’s Web site and 58.6% rate e-mail marketing as very important for finding new customers.
• When looking for new customers, 91% cite the value and importance of word of mouth.
• Nearly 75% of respondents say they expect their businesses to grow in the next year.
Source: Constant Contact
â–¶ Consumers Cut Back: A recent Harris Interactive Poll of 3,084 adults finds that over the past six months, 62% of U.S. adults have purchased more generic brands and 45% are brown-bagging lunch instead of purchasing it. A number of Americans have cut back in other small ways to save money, says the report. They include:
• 37% of Americans are going to the hairstylist or barber less often.
• 27% of adults have canceled one or more magazine subscriptions while 17% have canceled a newspaper subscription.
• 22% of Americans have stopped purchasing coffee in the morning, 21% have cut down on dry cleaning and 14% have begun carpooling or using mass transit.
• 22% of U.S. adults have canceled or cut back on cable TV service, and 17% have changed or canceled cell phone service or canceled their landline service and are only using cell phones.
Source: Harris Interactive
â–¶ Politics Goes Social: Members of the U.S. Congress and U.K. Parliament are increasingly using social media as a channel to reach constituents, according to the 2010 Capital Staffers Index, released by Edelman. Specific findings:
• Staffers report their members’ use of Facebook has increased dramatically in the last three years—62% in 2010 vs. 15% in 2007. Use of text messaging has nearly doubled (55% vs. 35%) in that same time frame. Use of blogging (46% vs. 16%) and use of Twitter (38% vs. 7%) have also grown.
• The study also surveyed the online access patterns of staffers, finding that their online activity focused on information-gathering from traditional online news sites prior to 10 a.m., then engaging with social media after 10 a.m. Social media spikes traditionally occur at lunchtime and after 6 p.m.
• Certain traditional channels continue to be seen as effective by politicians, the most effective being: one-on-one meetings (90%), TV appearances (93%), speaking events (90%), newspaper articles (86%) and radio appearances (85%). PRN
Source: Edelman