Study finds SMBs lag larger companies in use of social media

Beaverton, Ore.—Small and midsize businesses lag larger companies when it comes to social media use, according to a new study by Forrester Consulting.

According to the study, “Driving SMB Revenue in a Tough Economy,” small and midsize businesses' engagement with social media is far below that of their larger enterprise counterparts: 48% of SMB respondents cited the use of personal social networking sites, compared with 66% of larger enterprises; 51% reported use of professional social networking sites, compared with 66% for larger enterprises; and 51% are using microblogs, compared with 74% of bigger companies.

SMBs are also less likely to use the more scalable tactics that large enterprises use. For example, 80% of large enterprises report that they use email marketing, compared with 72% of SMBs.

The Forrester study was based on a survey of 208 marketing executives across multiple industries. The survey was conducted from June through September and commissioned by cloud services company Act-On Software.