A new survey conducted by Citibank shares some disheartening news: "Few U.S. small businesses have adopted social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter for business uses."

The survey states that "three-quarters of small businesses say they have not found sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn helpful for generating business leads or expanding business." (The survey was done with 500 U. S. businesses with under 100 employees each.)

I admit to being dismayed by the small number, but not necessarily surprised. To quote Maria Veltre, executive vice president of Citi's Small Business segment...

"What this survey indicates to us is small businesses are very, very focused on running their business and on generating sales and managing their cash flow and doing the things that are really important, especially in these economic times...I don't think quite yet the social media piece of it has proven to be as significant."

"Proven." That's the keyword and the issue at stake. Small businesses are sticking with that which is trusted. For example, according to the survey:

• 42 percent of small businesses have made greater use of their company websites to generate business leads and sales


• 19 percent were doing more advertising to attract new customers in the economic downturn


• 28 percent were using more email marketing


• 25 percent using more online advertising to generate business leads and sales

You can't blame them really. When times are tough, most stick with the tried-and-true. Email has long proven itself to be a cost-effective means of marketing, as has search (SEO and PPC). More online marketing dollars are spent on those forms of media than any other. 

Proving the Case for Social Media Marketing