Small UK firms turn to social media

London: Social networks have overtaken local directories such as Yellow Pages and Thomson and print advertising in the UK as the main way small businesses seek out new customers, according to research published on Monday.

Over one-third of UK small businesses say that they now use Facebook to market their products and services, compared to 27 per cent that rely on local directories for their advertising.

Twitter has also become popular with UK-based small businesses and their owners — over one-in-six use micro blogging service to scout for new customers and to market their services. As a result Twitter is fast catching up with those who say they use print (21 per cent) and online advertising (20 per cent) advertising for their marketing.

"Small businesses are shifting their marketing to lower-cost media like Facebook and Twitter and away from legacy media like the directories," said Simon Best, co-founder of BaseKit, a UK-based technology services provider which offers small businesses self-build website packages.

The BaseKit ‘Small Business Report' also found that, while large numbers of the UK's estimated 1.1 million small businesses are online and are using sites such as Facebook successfully, more than half (660,000) have yet to get themselves online at all.

This is despite the fact that three quarters of those that do have a site say it has become critical to drumming up new leads and to their reputation as a company.

The results of the survey are based on an online poll conducted last month by Opinium Research among 500 small business owners each employing under 49 people.

"They tell us that one-to-one marketing is their most efficient and most successful way of generating new business," said Best. "The fact that Facebook has become the number one source of new business within just a few years of its creation is remarkable."

Lagging behind

Rachel Bridge, business expert and bestselling author commented: "It's staggering that although businesses are embracing social media as a tool for marketing, so few are integrating tools such as blogs, video or twitter feeds into their websites. A number of small businesses admit their sites are seriously lagging behind in the technology stakes with only one in four able to accept online payments."

Best added: "We found that while a lot of small businesses are forward-thinking when it comes to the web, there are a lot of others that have yet to get on board. We felt that, given so many are finding success with social networks, we should create some resources for other businesses to use to get themselves Facebook-literate when it comes to marketing their services.

"The simple truth is that, for a small business with customers who may be under 40, if you're not on the web then you are more-or-less invisible. We believe that every small business in the UK should be able to take advantage of the power of the internet as a tool to grow — and should be able to create a professional website cost-effectively," he said. The research is being used to establish what small business owners want to know more about with online guides written by professionals to help them get the most from the internet. BaseKit has also created a Guide to Facebook for Small Business

— Financial Times