A study published Monday by Waltham-based Constant Contact shows that the majority of small business owners who do their own social media and SEO wish they had someone to do it for them. The problem? They can’t afford it. There are only so many hours–which the survey says are worth $273 each–in a day and small business owners don’t have enough time and/or money to invest in a meaningful social media campaign.
At 40 percent, TV/Radio ads are the most popular to outsource, which makes sense due to the uncommon skill set and equipment required. Outsourcing social media, on the other hand, was only done by 3 percent of those surveyed while 19 percent of the companies surveyed wished they could also outsource social media.
Christopher Litster, senior VP of sales and marketing at Constant Contact, said in the press release that, “In an earlier Constant Contact survey, 80 percent said they conduct social media marketing, yet more than half also told us it’s the marketing activity they need the most help with.”
In addition, there is a sizable gap between the companies that outsource social media and SEO and companies that don’t, but want to (16 percent and 15 percent, respectively).
This means that nearly every business owner knows that he has to have some kind of social media presence, but is not confident in their social media skills. People can’t keep up with the constant changes to the layouts, privacy rules and optimization strategies of the various social media sites. They wish they could pay someone to do it for them, but they don’t have the funds and are uncertain about ROI.
“Small business owners wear lots of hats – for instance, the owner of a book shop doesn’t just sell books; he may also be the book keeper, the marketer, and the shelf-stocker,” said Arthur Steinert, Senior Business Director at Constant Contact, “They have to keep pace with rapid changes in SEO, mobile marketing, Facebook ads, and Google analytics among others, while also directly engaging with customers via email and on platforms such as Facebook.”
If a viable, affordable option solution to social media and SEO marketing was to come along, the data seems to indicate that small business owners would happily pay for it to mitigate some of the stress that comes with running a company.
This study was conducted in June 2013 and included 1,305 participants in the Constant Contact Small Biz Council – a research panel of US small businesses and nonprofits recruited from the Constant Contact customer base. You can see the visual representations on the data here.
