TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS COMMENTS. How have businesses been using new technology? TECHNOLOGY USED TOP MENTIONS*

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1 BUSINESS COMMENTS We started using the cellphone with Internet access and the mobile applications. Our customers can contact us at any time. They can go directly to the manager, and they don t have to wait to talk to one of the owners. That s what we had to do in the past. Art retailer We advertise more on the Internet and (do) customer relationship building online. We find new clients and (do) campaigns. We have laptops in service trucks that are linked to a centralized database. Manufacturer Using social networking and social media. This is a great way to connect with potential clients and contracts. Multimedia company We actually do use quite a bit of technology. Each crew member has an ipad and a cellphone, and each truck has GPS. Landscaping business Use a lot of Internet webcasts, which are live training sessions. Staying connected with customers in general with a smartphone, ing, texting, social media. Consulting/engineering TECHNOLOGY How have businesses been using new technology? TECHNOLOGY USED TOP MENTIONS* Use portable devices smartphones, ipads, laptops Added/upgraded computer systems New-software upgrade Increased communication online, texting, newsletters Use social media Updated/added website Advertising online Computerized accounting Question: How have your business operations used new technology in the past two years, if at all, such as computer applications/hardware, cellphones and mobile applications? *Note: Based on multiple responses. Businesses are adding portable devices as part of their business operations Mobile devices, such as ipads, tablets and laptops, are used by one-quarter of the businesses. Businesses also appear to be investing in adding/upgrading their computer systems (24%). The next tier of technology applications involves upgrading software and increasing communications with customers/prospective customers via online communication Web/ ing, texting and electronic newsletters. 26% 24% 10% 10% 9% 6% 5% 5% 27

2 Which Internet-based tools do businesses use? INTERNET-BASED TOOLS USED BY BUSINESSES* Has Internet access Maintains website/ Web page social media for business Has Facebook page 97% 74% 47% 42% 33% Larger companies are more likely than smaller companies to actively use social media in their business. Companies that use any social media tend to have: Twenty or more employees (61% vs. 52% with five to 19 employees and 43% with one to four employees) Companies that actively use Facebook tend to: Not be home-based businesses (39% vs. 24% for home-based businesses) Have 20 or more employees (53% vs. 41% with five to 19 employees and 26% with one to four employees) Has LinkedIn account Has Twitter account Has YouTube channel 31% 19% 19% 12% 12% 6% Have an annual revenue of more than $1 million (44% vs. 33% with $100,000 to $1 million and 26% with less than $100,000) Companies that use Twitter tend to have: Twenty or more employees (20% vs. 15% with five to 19 employees and 9% with one to four employees) Questions: Does your business have access to the Internet for your business? Does your business maintain a website or Web page? Does your business have a page, account or channel on any of the following social media sites? Which of these social media sites do you actively use as part of your business? *Note: Responses in each category are mutually exclusive. Businesses using social media Most businesses maintain a website/web page, and almost half actively use social media as part of their business. Businesses are most likely to use Facebook or LinkedIn. 28

3 Larger businesses (in terms of revenue and number of employees) are also more likely to maintain a website/web page. MAINTAINS A WEBSITE/WEB PAGE * How have businesses been using social media and what results have they experienced? TOP RESPONSES 2010 ANNUAL REVENUE < $100K 59% APPLICATIONS * RESULTS EXPERIENCED * $100K $1M $1M NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES % 93%** 68%*** 84% 94% Facebook n = 268 promotion: 45% Customer education: 20% Posting news: 12% customers: 11% Marketing: 11% None/not much: 25% More customers: 14% Increased sales: 8% Better communication: 8% Increased visibility: 6% Positive feedback: 3% Not sure yet: 30% Home-based 64% Not home-based 82%** *Note: Responses in each category are mutually exclusive. **Significantly higher than the other categories. ***Significantly lower than the other categories. LinkedIn n = 157 customers: 63% promotion: 16% Referrals/leads: 7% Source of information: 5% Find employees: 5% None/not much: 31% More customers: 15% Better communication: 8% Increased visibility: 5% Not sure yet: 21% Twitter n = 97 promotion: 33% Posting news: 20% Customer education: 16% customers: 13% Marketing: 12% None/not much: 27% More customers: 13% Increased visibility: 13% Increased sales: 4% Better communication: 3% Not sure yet: 31% YouTube n = 53 promotion: 47% Customer education: 17% Posting videos: 17% Marketing: 11% Linked to our website: 6% Customer service: 4% Training: 4% Increased visibility: 15% More customers: 9% Increased loyalty: 9% None/not much: 9% Positive feedback: 9% Increased sales: 8% Not sure yet: 25% Questions: How do you use this site for your business? What results has your business experienced from using this site? *Note: Based on multiple responses. 29

4 Advertising and communication Promotion was the main application businesses mentioned for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. LinkedIn is primarily considered a communication tool for staying in touch with customers. Limited success Less than half of businesses feel any specific social media tool has helped their business. Less than 25% have experienced an increase in sales or customers. KEY FINDINGS Trying to figure it out Most businesses are still trying to figure out how social media can benefit them. They see great potential but need more information about how to apply it and measure its success. Actively using social media Half of the businesses are actively using social media. Facebook and LinkedIn are the top business social media tools; however, most businesses have not experienced much success with the sites. Opportunities Companies are increasingly using mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for business and will continue to need new applications and hardware to support them. With more companies using social media sites, there is also a growing need to help businesses learn how to use these tools. BUSINESS COMMENTS It s hard for me to monitor where they (our customers) find us. (LinkedIn and Facebook) Medical imaging We haven t done a lot with social media. We haven t received any impact from what we have done. (Facebook) Dentist Our current customers appreciate the information we provide, and it s been a positive resource for potential customers. (Facebook) Montessori school I ve been very happy with it. People are able to get ahold of me to make reservations, and I can them pictures of the park so they are not surprised when they get here. (Facebook) RV park We had the Food Channel show up, and when we put the information on YouTube, the people were there with their cameras taking pictures. (YouTube) Restaurant My business would not be up today and would have failed (without Facebook). Property investments We have captured a different population of people we might have missed. (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) Social services agency 30

5 TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT Evolution of social media What started out as a way to connect friends, families and co-workers has rapidly developed into an avenue businesses can capitalize on for advertising/promotion, networking and education. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter led the way after launching in the mid-2000s. Now each site has more than 100 million users (Facebook has more than 800 million active users, 12 Twitter has more than 100 million active users 13 and LinkedIn has more than 135 million members 14 ). Those staggering numbers are prompting companies to quickly jump into the social media marketplace. Yet many of these companies are still trying to figure it out. Almost half of the businesses polled actively use social media as part of their business; however, less than half of those feel it has helped. Understand the big picture Using social media effectively goes beyond just setting up an account. Many companies The social media side is very complicated, and it is not enough to just set up a Facebook account and Twitter account. It (the key) is to really understand how to engage and launch that type of campaign effectively. 15 Todd Sanders, Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce I haven t gotten any work yet but have managed to learn a lot. It s more of a learning experience at this point. (LinkedIn) Business consultant firm have started using social media before really understanding the best approach for their business. This has the potential to create clutter and confuse the audience. Businesses need to take a step back and focus on how they can best use social media to achieve their end goals. Will it be a sales tool or a communication tool, or both? Be active Frequent interaction is integral to making social media successful. Whether businesses are making daily or weekly posts or monitoring questions from customers, active participation appears to be a key factor in keeping people engaged and satisfied. Measure success Many businesses We have interviewed did not know if social better internal media efforts were successful, communication and because they did not or awareness; however, it s hard to track the external could not measure it. value. I ve never had anyone Making an effort to follow say, We found you on up with customers and Facebook. (Facebook user) contacts would help them Martial arts studio understand the value social Get help Social media can I try to go on weekly and put in a helpful hint or something along those lines, and I participate in a group where we like each others pages to get us higher on the group. It is then easier to find us. (Facebook user) Landscape company media has on their business. be a very valuable and Don t go at it alone. It profitable tool for makes sense in terms of investment to go in and have businesses when someone come in and take a look at done right, which is your particular business and give you those three or four things that are going why it makes sense to make you successful in the social media world, because you could really run the to use a third party. risk of cluttering or not getting your message out if you just go on instinct. 16 Todd Sanders, Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce 31