Forecast: SMBs to up social media ad spend in 2014

According to Ad-ology Research's latest Small Business Marketing Forecast, a quarter of SMBs already active on social media expect to up their spend to advertise on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn during 2014.

Furthermore, many (80%) SMBs active in social media plan on spending the same, or more, on social marketing this year. While 41% of SMBs do not currently use promoted posts or sponsored Tweets almost 14% plan to spend more on these platforms this year.

According to C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research, small businesses (those with at least 25 employees) aren't using social media to avoid the costs of advertising. Indeed, these firms are among those most likely to advertise on social networks.

Email marketing continues to be the mainstay of SMBs marketing efforts. Over three-quarters (78%) of the 1,169 U.S. small business owners and marketing decision makers surveyed by Ad-ology Research sent 'email blasts' in 2013 and 20% plan to send even more in 2014.

The Ad-ology Research report also found that 31.1% of SMBs are still without a website. Of those that do have a website, more than 60% are not optimized for mobile. Furthermore, just 8.9% of SMBs are currently using online or mobile video and 40% have no plans to incorporate customer testimonials to bolster marketing efforts in 2014.

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Tags: email marketing, small business, social marketing, social media