54% of eCommerce small businesses say social media provides the best ROI
NEW YORK (PRWEB) March 14, 2019
A new study has shed light on the role that social media marketing plays for small eCommerce businesses, highlighting how social media has beat paid search, SEO, email, and offline advertising as their preferred marketing channel.
DesignRush.com, a B2B marketplace that connects brands with agencies, conducted a survey of over 150 small eCommerce businesses to find out about the marketing channels they use.
The survey found that half of all respondents invested more in social media than any other marketing channel in 2018, and planned on doing so again in 2019. The low cost of social media marketing and its relatively high ROI makes it an attractive investment for small businesses.
The Challenges of Social Media Management
While 42% of businesses reported that social media is an easy marketing channel to manage, 33% found it the hardest to deal with.
The near constant interactions that social media requires come naturally to some eCommerce companies, but remains a significant challenge for others who are less social media-inclined or lack the resources to utilize the channel regularly.
Utilization of Marketing Agencies
73% of respondents planned to use a marketing agency of some type in 2019.
46% of companies plan on using an agency to handle their social media marketing. This could be explained by the stated difficulty that many companies have in managing their social media channels.
The study found that projected investments in email marketing and offline advertising agencies stayed flat between 2018 and 2019, while SEO, paid search ads, and social media marketing all saw an increase.
This may indicate a continuing shift toward more advanced, targeted forms of advertisement.
The Importance of Social Media Investment
54% of eCommerce businesses report that social media marketing has the highest ROI, and their investments reflect this.
Whether they find social media easy to manage or not, 45% of companies surveyed utilized a social media marketing agency in 2018, and an increasing amount plan on using one in 2019.
Social media marketing investments were a driving force for small eCommerce businesses in 2018, and will continue to be in the foreseeable future.
Read the full report: https://designrush.com/trends/ecommerce-small-business-social-media-roi
About DesignRush.com:
DesignRush.com is a B2B marketplace connecting brands with the best local and global agencies. Users can compare agencies by expertise, size, rates, and reviews, in categories including Digital Agencies, Logo Design, Branding, Digital Marketing, Website Design, App Development, eCommerce Web Design Companies, and more.