FredNMT 2013 Social Business Survey
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Transcript of FredNMT 2013 Social Business Survey
2013Social Business
SurveyFrederick County, Maryland
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.comThis is our second year conducting this survey, and I’ve tried to pull the most interesting information. Hopefully this will put today’s discussions into perspective.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
About the survey
82 responsesCollected Nov. 2012 – Feb. 2013
Promoted via email & social media
Just a little background on the survey. Many of you probably participated. There were 82 responses, collected from last November through this month. The Chamber and FCC promoted it via email and social media.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Age Groups
16% Generation Y
35% Generation X
44% Baby Boomers
5% Silent Generation
To give you an idea of who participated, a majority of responses were from business professionals age 33 to 67.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Job Functions
36% Owner/Exec
21% Mar/Comm
12% Management
11% Sales/Development (20% other)
In this year’s survey, over a third of the respondents were business owners or executives. Other top job functions were marketing and communications, management, and sales and development. 20% were other roles, including administrative and HR.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Devices
desktop
laptop
tablet
smartphone
0 1 2 3 4
2012 2013
never frequentlyrarely sometimes can’t live without it
I think it’s interesting to see year-to-year comparisons, so the rest of the charts I’m showing you will be set up that way.
This year, desktop use declined slightly, but laptop and smartphone use were up. The biggest jump, not surprisingly, is in tablet use. More and more people have iPads.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
63%can’t live without a smartphone
(up from 54% in 2012)The Noun Project ·
Ross Sokolovski
63% of people said they “can’t live without” a smartphone. Last year only 54% of people said that.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Local Info
0 1 2 3 4
never weeklyrarely monthly daily
searchengine
word ofmouth
socialmedia
newspaper(website)
emailnewsletter
2012 2013
We gave respondents a list of 12 types of media, and asked “When searching for information about local businesses and the local community, how often do you use the following sources?”
These are the top five sources of information. Social media and email newsletters increased quite a bit over last year.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Traditional MediaPrinted newspaper, local TV broadcast, and local radio broadcast were down from 2012. Digital media and WOM showed increases.
Out of a dozen sources, traditional media were the only ones that declined. Printed newspaper, local TV broadcast. and local radio broadcast were down, and digital media (including word of mouth) were up.
Keep in mind, we asked about searching for information about local businesses and the local community. That doesn’t mean no one is listening to the radio anymore, it just means they’re not necessarily turning to that format as often for local community information.
Interestingly, newspaper websites, radio websites, and TV websites all showed increases.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
72%use a search engine (i.e., Google) daily
(up from 65% in 2012) The Noun Project ·
Michelle Ann
72% of respondents reported using a search engine like Google every single day. (Personally, I think the other 28% are lying. Who doesn’t search online every day?) That’s up from 65% last year, where it was also the highest ranked source of local information.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Online Activities
0 1 2 3 4
never weeklyrarely monthly daily
socialnetworking
viewphotos
readreviews
sharephotos
readblogs
2012 2013
For the next question, we gave a list of 15 items and asked participants “How often do you engage in the following activities online?”
These are the top five activities. Social media edged out “viewing photos” for the top ranking this year. Notice the somewhat large increase in sharing photos -- I think we can attribute at least some of that to the proliferation of smartphones and photo apps.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
15 out of 15activities surveyed showed an increase in engagement over 2012
We’re doing more of everything! All 15 online activities showed an increase from last year. I think this is another trend we can at least partially attribute to the rise of mobile devices.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
68%use a social network daily
(up from 60% in 2012)
68% of us are using a social network every day, up from 60% last year.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Using SoMe at W!k
0
25
50
75
100
yes, no limits yes, restrictions not permitted not sure
2012 2013
We asked participants: “Are you permitted to use social media at work?” 57% of people answered yes, with no limitations, which more than double last year’s 26%. It looks like a lot of employees gained social media privileges over the past year.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Daily Netw!ks
0
25
50
75
100
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+
2012 2013
We also asked “How often do you use the following social media for business or professional development?” and gave respondents 18 networks to rate. Not surprisingly, Facebook is at the top with almost 44% of respondents logging in every day.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
18 out of 18networks surveyed showed an increase in engagement over 2012
Again, we’re doing more of everything. All 18 networks showed an increase in activity.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Time Spent
0
25
50
75
100
More time Less time Same amount Not sure
2012 2013
So we’ve gained some insight into people’s current online habits. For the next couple questions, we asked about their future intentions. First, we asked, “In 2013, how much time will you commit to using social media for business and professional development?” 63% said they’d spend more time than last year, up from 43% in 2012.
Between this and the large increase in the percentage of employees permitted to use social media, we can see that businesses are much more decisive about social media’s role in the workplace.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
ROI
0
25
50
75
100
Positive Negative Neutral/No Return Not sure
2012 2013
We also asked “What type of return do you see on your use of social media for business and professional development?” Just like last year, the results mirror those from the last question. 59% are seeing positive ROI, up from 43% last year.
It seems like most of the gains are coming from the “neutral” or “not sure” category, which also tells me that businesses are probably getting better at tracking the return on investment.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
An age-old questionIs higher ROI driving more engagement, or is more engagement leading to higher ROI?
The Noun Project · Carly Vanderlee
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? One thing we’re not able to tell is whether increasing ROI is driving an increase in time spent on social media, or if spending more time is resulting in more positive outcomes.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Primary Goals
0
25
50
75
100
2012 2013
advanceorg’s
mission
promoteproduct/service
collaborateand
connect
learning/prof.
develop.
researchpurchasedecisions
find localstores and
services
This is the last, and possibly the most important, question. We asked “What is your or your company’s primary goal for using social media in 2013?”
I hate to end on a negative note, but the results here concern me. There are huge increases in the “overtly promotional” categories, and losses in the learning and researching categories.
If you’re on Twitter or Facebook and it seems like more companies are just posting advertising messages instead of engaging, you’re not imagining it.
I think the takeaway here is that to stand out from the crowd, you have to be genuinely interested in your audience. Instead of trying to sell them something or convince them of something, try asking questions. Post things that will make someone’s life better or help them find the information they need.
#frednmt · @jesshibb · storiesandideas.com
Thank you!
Thank you to the Chamber for letting me slice and dice the data, which is something I love doing. I think they’re going to make the survey results publicly available so you can dig into the data, too.