BizSugar.com › Products and Services › Seven Out Of 10 Small Businesses Use Social Media

While big brands and national advertisers are embracing social media in highly visible (and not always competent) ways, the real evidence of its long-term utility is the high rate of adoption by small business owners, who are ramping up spending to reach potential customers in local markets, according to Webs, which offers a do-it-yourself service for Web site creation.Currently 69% of small business owners surveyed by Webs are using social media -- including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogs -- at their companies; another 13% said they plan to begin using social media in the next three months. In terms of specific platforms, Facebook was the clear leader with 68% of small business owners saying it is the social media tool they use most for their businesses.That's the good news. The less-good news is that -- just like big national advertisers -- small business owners are still trying to figure out how to use social media, which remains very much an "experimental" marketing tool. Of the small business owners surveyed by Webs, 59% said social media has "not met" or only "slightly met" their expectations as a marketing tool, and 43% said they currently allocate 10% or less of their marketing budgets to social media.