A large percentage of small business have increased their usage of social media for marketing, according to a Employers National Poll. That same poll also finds that more entrepreneurs are using their mobile devices to conduct day-to-day operations.
The poll reveals that 84 percent of businesses actively using social media leverage Facebook for marketing, and that more than one-third (38 percent) of small business decision-makers use smartphones or tablets to help manage their businesses each day.
"The larger the small business, the more likely the small business decision-maker is to use smart devices to help run operations: 28 percent among those with one to four employees; 36 percent for those with five to 19 employees; and 63 percent for those with 20-plus employees," reports Employers Holdings Inc., a holding company with subsidiaries that are specialty providers of workers' compensation insurance and services focused on select small businesses engaged in low-to-medium hazard industries.
When it comes to mobile business applications, 41 percent say they are interested in using apps such as mobile banking, customer relationship management (CRM), risk management, payroll management and insurance policy management.
Check out this small business poll snapshot: (Most common apps among smartphone and tablet users)
·93 percent: Mobile e-mail
·64 percent: Location-based navigation services
·41 percent: Mobile apps for Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter
·41 percent: Mobile banking apps
Although the use of smartphones and tablets increases among small businesses with more employees, the younger companies (in business 10 years or less) are more likely (52 percent) to use social media services like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter for marketing.
That's compared to 28 percent of those in business 11 to 19 years, and 28 percent of those in business 30-plus years. Additionally, among companies using mobile applications, those with the fewest employees (one to four employees) are the most likely to use social media apps—54 percent compared with 46 percent among those with 5 to 19 employees and 24 percent among those with 20-plus employees, reports Employers.
Employers Holdings surveyed 501 owners or managers of small businesses with 1 to 99 full-time employees. Data was collected through telephone interviews during the period October 2011.
