NEWS: Looking for small-business owners? Try advertising on social networks

Looking for small-business owners? Try advertising on social networks

By Kate Maddox

Story posted: June 9, 2008 - 6:01 am EDT

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Small businesses are rapidly venturing into social networks, providing a prime opportunity for marketers trying to reach this sometimes elusive segment. 

Warrillow & Co., in new research released at last month's 2008 Warrillow Summit in Las Vegas, found that 28% of small-business owners had registered for at least one social networking site. The most popular social network for small-business owners is Classmates.com (18%), followed by LinkedIn (15%), MySpace (14%) and Facebook (10%). The study was based on an online survey of 2,036 small-business owners, conducted in March. 

About 450 marketers gathered at the Warrilow conference to discuss strategies for reaching the lucrative small-business market, while small-business owners talked about their needs and how to best market to them. 

One of the hottest topics was how to use social networking, both as a tool to reach small businesses and for small businesses to market to their customers. ..