36% of SME use Facebook, 60% are digital dinosaurs
Over one third of UK small businesses say that they now use Facebook to drum up new customers – more than local directories such as Yellow Pages and Thomson and substantially more than print or online advertising. That’s the findings of a survey by website builder BaseKit. They found that 36% of small businesses in Britain use the social network to market themselves, where just a quarter say they rely on local directories as a source of new customers.
It’s not really a surprise that the Yellow Pages and Thomson are less attractive to businesses these days. Any copies I receive along with BT’s telephone directory go straight into the recycling bin unopened. Why when I have a computer and a smartphone would I ever want to refer to a paper directory which only covers a tight geographical area? Most of the businesses I want to contact aren’t based in Thatcham where I live so the print directories are worse than useless and slower than a smart phone.
Small businesses are shifting their marketing to lower-cost media like Facebook and Twitter and away from legacy media like the directories. They tell us that one-to-one marketing is their most efficient and most successful way of generating new business – the fact that Facebook has become the number one source of new business within just a few years of its creation is remarkable.
Simon Best, founder of BaseKit
Whilst online retailers may struggle to figure out how to best use Facebook to generate sales, the same isn’t true for other forms of businesses. If you provide services, anything from Window Cleaning to Accounting, or have a business such as restaurants, hotels or holiday lets then you should be figuring out how to use Facebook and Twitter to work for you.
The report also highlights how many businesses are becoming “Digital Dinosaurs” with 60% of UK small businesses yet to get online. Of those that are online 11% say their websites use out of date technology and a further 11% describe their company’s online presence as either “poor” or “embarrassing”. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs for the country who’s consumers spend more online per head of population than anywhere else in the world!
Gary says
2:32 pm on 14/05/2012
Service companies that benefit from word of mouth business and that do not actually sell physical goods online can very clearly benefit from social media.
I struggle with the idea that social media benefits those who want to offer hard physical goods through these channels in return for a direct payment.
Chris says
11:24 pm on May 16th, 2012
In the above item Window Cleaning Services were specifically mentioned. I have no specific knowlwedge of Window Cleaning(never go up ladders). But I would imagine that they operate within relatively limited geographic areas. Say a Town, or part of a City or in more rural areas a clutch of Villages.
Over the years I have had leaflets pushed through my door, or visits from the Window Cleaner trying to sell me their services(as I would guess we all have). The Window Cleaner goes round the area and tries to sign up as many as possible. Their ideal is to go to a Village or Estate and clean each house/bungalows windows in the street before going onto the next street-maximum number of windows minimum amount of travelling)
With any form of Online Listing surely such a tight geographic area is going to be a problem. After all the W/C or other similar local business probably does not want “customers” outside of the geographic area that they have designated.
The vast majority of the people who are likely to see the “advert” are going to be outside the area. Indeed the Trader is going to find most of their time spent telling callers that they do not know the name & phone number of the W/C or Milkman or whatever in their neighbourhood(they have tried to find a W/C in their town or village 50 or 100 miles away and hope that the bloke “advertising” does).
Mark T says
3:01 pm on 14/05/2012
I tried to explain to a Yell representative that their advertising was not good value anymore.
I serve a large geographical area with our photography and videography business and to advertise in all of those on Yell is exorbitant…
…Why?
Because they keep insisting that I pay for every “city/town” I need to reach.
I then explained that that was why I use Google Adwords instead…
They have based their internet model on their old phonebook model…
And it just does not work for a company that sources customers or stock over a large geographical area.
So I would add the Yell website to the above, as a potential advertiser…
Chris says
11:40 pm on May 15th, 2012
If you look at such as Yellow Pages. A few years ago each directory covered a fairly reasonable geographic area. Then they started to cut down the area because(I was told) the costs of producing and distributing the enormous Directories was extortionate(although it obviously meant that they were printing more directories and therefore those wanting to continue to advertise in a large area had to advertise in more directories). As an example 2004/5 the local one was Plymouth & Cornwall. The 2012/13 is Mid & West Cornwall and the print is so small you need a magnifying glass to be able to read it.
Jimbo says
3:14 pm on 14/05/2012
Is there a Facebook directory?
Mike says
4:11 pm on 14/05/2012
What happened to the other 4%???
Gary says
10:04 pm on 14/05/2012
Reading the above again 60% of UK small businesses are yet to get online therefore 40% are online. And of those around 36% use social networking which is around 14% of the total.
Agree it is confusing but maybe it was deliberately reported that way by Basekit to make it appear that social networking is more popular than it actually is?
It is a bit unfair to call businesses that are not online digital dinosaurs. There are a massive number of small businesses serving local communities for example that don’t need an online presence.
Chris Dawson says
10:09 pm on May 14th, 2012
I’m surprised Gary, I can’t think of a single business local or otherwise that couldn’t benefit from an online presence.
Even if it’s just a placeholder website (effectively an online business card – a single page website with contact details) so that people can find you is worthwhile?
The Shopkeeper says
7:49 am on May 15th, 2012
I agree Chris. Why so many businesses don’t even have a holding page with even just their contact details is beyond me.
I can’t think of a single business that shouldn’t have an online presence Gary. I’m sure there are some and you’ll point them out now but I don’t buy the notion that if you don’t sell online you don’t need to be online.
Gary says
9:25 am on May 15th, 2012
I won’t bore you with a list.
One gripe about having an online presence is that it attracts nuisence cold caller time wasters trying to sell you all sorts of online business things. That is also an issue with having an entry in a directory. The only calls these seem to generate are from those trying to sell you directory or advertising space in alternative directories!
Chris says
11:30 pm on May 15th, 2012
I live in a small village. We do not have a shop or Post Office. But there are villages around us(all about 3 miles away) that do have a shop and/or a Post Office. Their customers all tend to live within the village(a few possibly within a mile or so of the village) and everybody in a village knows where the shop and Post Office is(its usually right in the centre and has been since Adam was a lad. But I doubt if they have any customers from outside that area, mainly because what they sell is aimed at local needs(most of us do out weekly big shop in Supermarkets so its the odd items and Newspapers and the like that we buy in the village shop). In those circumstances what possible advantage would having an online presence be to such a business?
st georges dragon says
6:48 am on 15/05/2012
we used to have a full page add in the yellow pages , we may now only have the linage entry that all receive , as I cant remember the last time we looked in a phone book of any description
st georges dragon says
6:50 am on 15/05/2012
we used to have a full page add in the yellow pages , it was the ebay of the day, we may now only have the linage entry that all receive , as I cant remember the last time we looked in a phone book of any description
Chris says
11:44 pm on May 15th, 2012
I do keep the latest directories. After all they take up little room and they often have proved useful in the past. When the new one turns up the old one goes into recycling. But it does get refered to(although nowhere near as often as it used to years ago)
st georges dragon says
6:55 am on 15/05/2012
which brings us back to the social media being effective debate, yellow pages really worked in its day and we could have place items in every spin off local directory newspapers magazines etc etc , and most of them would have been a waste of money, social media is no different one or two will be effective most will just be a waste of time
Gary says
3:23 pm on 16/05/2012
General Motors are to stop advertising on Facebook as they have decided Facebook adverts have little impact with consumers. They will continue to have Facebook pages which cost nothing.
It is claimed that around 60% of Facebook users in the USA are under 19 so a poor demographic for GM anyway.
Also don’t you have to be of a certain age before you can buy online?
It is all very well marketing on Facebook but what impact does this marketing have?
How many new customers actually turn up and say “I saw your advert on Facebook so I will buy from you/use your services”?
Daft as it may seem Yellow Pages and Thompson still offer some credibility as users believe that those who advertise within have at least been through some sort of vetting process or received a visit from a sales rep prior to the advert been placed. At the very least money has changed hands between the advertiser and the directory.