The importance of Social Media for local businesses

Social Media Marketing

Mashable posted a story in which Samantha Murphy detailed the results of a recent study which discussed where individuals get their information about local businesses from.  According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than half of adults who look for information about local businesses do so online.  However, 38% of that group of adults reported using search engine results to find out about local businesses, and only 3% reported using social networking sites.

We have seen time and time again how well social media works for large brands.  The major issue we are seeing right now is that so few local businesses do not use social media as a tool of promotion.  Of the 54 local businesses we have linked to on the EZ Local Savings Facebook page, only 9 of those businesses have postings within the last week.  On many of the pages, we haven’t seen an update in over 6 months or even a year.

It’s hard for people to realize they can find local businesses on social media if businesses are not creating pages on social media.  Not only would a Facebook page help reach new fans, it would also help the search results of the local businesses current website.  It’s important that we start telling local businesses that we want to see them on social media.  We currently have a social media marketing program in Western Massachusetts where EZ Local Savings will set up and maintain you social media pages.  Email me for more information if you’re interested in that program: [email protected]