New goetzpartners study emphasises the potential of social media for SMEs

Still room for improvement

08. septembre 2014

The enormous potential of social media is going largely untapped among small and medium-sized enterprises – unlike in large businesses. The average usage rate across various social media is a mere 36%, even though social media actually offer a great many usage possibili-ties along the entire value chain of an SME’s business. This is a finding of the recently pub-lished goetzpartners study, “SME 2.0 – Social Media Readiness and Usage Potential”. The study concluded that SMEs could take advantage of numerous opportunities presented by social media to optimise their business: significantly reducing marketing costs, increasing their innovative potential and improving customer satisfaction being just some of the possibilities.

Study findings in brief:

According to the study, the lack of guidance concerning SME-specific social media strategies is the reason for the very cautious approach to the use of social media among many such companies at present. But there are increasing signs that small and medium-sized businesses may be joining the ranks of those willing to engage with the topic of social media and to make investments in that area.

The goetzpartners study offers recommendations for how SMEs can tap the potential of so-cial media. A four-step social media readiness model that takes account of the specific char-acteristics of smaller businesses can be applied to analyse a company’s individual status quo and social media compatibility. This “Social Media Readiness Check” forms the basis for so-cial media value chain mapping and can help companies to devise a strategy map for how they are going to tap the potential of social media in the future.

The complete study containing all of the findings and recommendations can be downloaded HERE

The findings of the goetzpartners study were also discussed in an interview with the “Springer für Professionals” B2B knowledge portal. In the interview, Dr Johannes Krämer outlined the potential and the possibilities of social media usage among SMEs and explains why social media permanently benefit innovation processes and product management. Read the interview.