Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews firm, surveyed 350 small business owners/managers across the U.S. and found that 24 percent have not yet used social media.  In addition, 8 percent replied that they are unlikely to in the future.

The breakdown of the businesses questioned was 40 percent with 10 or few employees, 27 percent with 11-50 employees, 25 percent with 51-250 employees, and 8 percent with 251-500 employees.

Of those small businesses using social media, Facebook is by far the preferred platform at 91 percent.  Twitter comes in second at 55 percent, and Instagram is third at 52 percent.

Clutch survey of small businesses using social media

“In general, Facebook is a beast. Its reach is incredibly vast, with almost 2 billion users,” said Alex Oesterle, owner of Blue Bear Creative, a Denver-based social media agency. “No matter what a business does, its customers are likely on Facebook, at least in part.”

Oesterle advises against a big investment in Twitter from small businesses.  He cites the shutdown of their micro-video sharing service, Vine and lackluster growth last year.

“Twitter is a wildcard in general,” Oesterle said.

Instagram is seen as an easy platform to get into, and the number of users is growing rapidly, with 600 million as of Dec. 2016.

YouTube users make up almost one-third of the world’s Internet users.  It’s the most costly and time-intensive platform though because of what’s necessary to put together well-made videos.

“If you have the time and money to invest in video, by all means, do so. For a cash- and time-strapped small business, however, it may not be worth it,“ said Joshua Dirks, co-founder and CEO of Project Bionic, a Seattle-based creative marketing agency.

Most of the small businesses using social media are pretty active, with 41 percent sharing content and/or engaging followers multiple times per day, and 23 percent doing so at least once per day.

Oesterle recommends posting one to two times per day on Facebook and several times per day on Twitter.

“Facebook posts can have a lifespan upwards of 24-48 hours, while a tweet’s half-life can be as small as 20 minutes,” said Oesterle. Understanding how content lives on its particular channel is an important step toward understanding the channels’ different potentials.”

Over 50 percent of small businesses keep their social media marketing in-house, but 36 percent outsource it or use software.

Oesterle warns against casually assigning social media efforts to an intern or freelancer with no knowledge of company branding or strategy.

“Just because they're 25 and have iPhones doesn't mean that they have the requirements [to run social media],” Dirks said.

For the complete report, visit: https://clutch.co/agencies/social-media-marketing/resources/small-business-2017-survey