Marketers at small businesses will pay more attention to social media as
they gain popularity among consumers, a new survey says.
A survey by
email-marketing software firm AWeber of over 2,500 small businesses
found nearly 70 percent are using some type of social-media tactics and
77 percent indicate integrating email marketing and social media is
either "very important" or "moderately important."
The most important tactics currently involve spreading content onto
additional mediums, such as sharing email newsletters on Twitter, and
delivering blog posts through email, the survey says.
It says small-business marketers seem to recognize the value in
driving social-media followers and fans to their email lists and,
conversely, letting subscribers get information from the medium with
which they are most comfortable.
Fifty-four percent of respondents indicate they plan to use Facebook
as a tool to help build their email lists, and nearly 20 percent
indicate that integrating email marketing and social media increased
customer loyalty.
Email marketing "continues to be a measureable effective tool that
brings significant value to small businesses, regardless of the nature
of their business," Tom Kulzer, CEO and founder of AWeber, says in a
statement.
He also says marketers "are continuing to realize the importance of
integrating their email marketing campaigns with social media activities
as a way to reach a broader audience, but are still learning how to do
this effectively."