Are small businesses using social media?  Are they finding success?  Here’s a survey of surveys – a quick look at some of the statistics and figures from around the Web on small business and social media.

Adoption is up among US small businesses.

“According to a survey conducted by Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, “Social Media Adoption By U.S. Small Businesses Doubles Since 2009,” the number of small businesses using social media doubled from 12 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2009,” says this post on FoxBusiness.com

“36% plan to utilize social media/networking websites to build business [in 2010],” according to MediaPost reporting on a FedEx Survey.  Based on the same survey, eMarketer said, “more than one-quarter said blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter were other key tools for marketing their business.” This survey was also examined by SearchEngineLand.com Assignment Editor, Matt McGee on his blog Small Business Search Marketing.

A survey of 1,711 “small business decision makers” found “all use at least one social media resource for business-relevant information. The overall average number of social media resources used by participants in this study is 5.9,” wrote digital marketing magnet Jeff Bullas on his blog.  However, he also cautioned, “This does not mean that the average North American small business decision maker uses nearly six different social media resources to get the information they need to do their jobs on a day-to-day basis. It does, however, suggest that small business decision makers who DO turn to social media resources for business information use, on average, nearly six different sources.”

But adoption may lag in UK small businesses.

WinWeb, software company that develops products from small businesses, posted a blog about an Insurantz.com survey which found, “of 1,000 UK SMEs has revealed that only 16% of them had a company Facebook or Twitter account.”

Small businesses are using social media successfully.

Moe Tamani, a blogger and SEO consulted cites survey data that found, “38 percent of small [US-based] businesses, compared to 27 percent of large companies, successfully found new customers through social networks.”

Small business is integrated social media with traditional marketing tactics.

“One in three business owners say that social media helps them to close business. That percentage may yet improve – 74 percent of small business owners who were early adopters, and have been using social media for years, say it’s helped them close business…” reported Inc. Magazine.

Small businesses are finding leads with social media.

“[SMBs] with 100 to 500 followers generated 146% more median monthly leads than those with 21 to 100 followers. Beyond the 500-follower mark, though, there was no further gain,” wrote eMarketer.

“50% of Small Businesses Say Lead Generation is Biggest Benefit of Social Networking,” read the first subhead this post by Amy Porterfield on SocialMediaExaminer.com

Social media is helping small businesses close deals.

“[Small businesses] are “employing some social media tactics, and 77% indicate that integrating e-mail marketing and social media is either ‘very important’ or ‘moderately important,’” according to B2B Magazine. Crain’s Chicago Business had a similar take on this survey by AWeber, which also blogged about the results.

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Filed under: Facts and Figures, Small Business, Social Media by Frank Strong