Published on 01/06/2016 by Punchmedia

Social Media and Small Business Performance

Does a Social Media Presence Increase Business Performance for Australian Small Businesses? Guest blogger Kim Linton explains...

According to the Sensis Social Media Report for 2015*, small businesses who have a social media presence do have greater confidence for future business performance.
  • 54% of small businesses with a social media presence reporting to having greater confidence in business prospects.
  • 35% reported to having increased sales
  • 32% reported increased profitability
  • 15% reported increased employment

Understand your Customers

Sensis surveyed 800 Australian consumers and 1,100 Australian businesses on their interactions with social media channels and found most businesses use it to understand their customers better in order to drive sales and provide good service. By understanding their customers they are able to improve existing products and services in addition to identifying more opportunities. They do this by actively encouraging two way communication by opening up feedback comments for products, services and blogs.

Connect with existing and potential Customers

More than 52% of people surveyed used social media more than 5 times per day. Those social media consumers, on average, use Facebook 8 ½ hours per week. This is a great opportunity to connect to more people which in turn drives a better exposure and increased business opportunities. Also by using social media, small businesses can drive traffic to their website and increase their ranking in Google searches enabling their business to be found and by reaching more people. 17% of small businesses have paid advertising on social media.

Social Media in 2016

In 2015, 30% of small businesses have a social media presence with 13% more small businesses planning to in 2016. By leveraging social media, 61% small businesses are expecting to have an increase in sales with a range from 9%. Having a small investment in social media the return of investment is looking good. A proportion of small business are seeking significant or moderate growth in their business by using, in part, their social media strategy in 2016. Paul Harris from

Hunter

4WD

 in New South Wales has a mechanic business in addition to brand new and used spare parts businesses. He is planning on creating and implementing a social media strategy in 2016 and believes that he will have significant growth in the spare part business as part of this investment. "People normally know about my business by word of mouth. My investment in Facebook and Instagram will tie into my community and create relationships with those people online by posting updates, sponsored advertisements and to receive feedback,'' Mr Hunter explained. "I will be able to offer special deals on new and spare parts and advertise my other services."

 

 *Sensis Social Media Report May 2015: How Australian people and businesses are using social media accessed 12/2/16 https://www.sensis.com.au/about/our-reports/sensis-social-media-report  ** Social media includes sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pintrest, Instagram, Snapshat and Blogs.  

Checkout our listings here
Ab Assets/Broker Avatar

punchmedia

Curtis is a leading expert in the business-for-sale industry, serving as a senior content creator at anybusiness.com.au.

With a career spanning over fifteen years, Curtis has accumulated extensive knowledge in the domain of business sales, acquisitions, and valuations. His deep understanding of market dynamics and his ability to translate complex industry jargon into accessible insights make him a trusted resource for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to buy or sell businesses.

Related articles

02/02/2014 by gavinLower
Mature workers who’ve been made redundant are investigating opportunities to work for themselves through franchises, a leading Australian franchise business says. “We’re seeing more and more people in the situation where they are made redundant and want some certainty with what they want to do in the future,” says John Stanton, Australasian franchise recruitment manager at mobile coffee business Cafe2U. He told StartupSma...