Although half of Canadian businesses believe that social media can increase their profitability, less than a third of Canadian small business owners are using the online tools, according to BMO Bank of Montreal survey results released Monday.
The survey found that key reasons Canadian businesses aren’t using social media include that:
- they don’t think it’s a valuable tool (29% of respondents); and
- they lack knowledge about social media (19%).
Top advantages businesses cited for using social media included:
- promoting a company’s brand or reputation (64%);
- providing broader access to consumers (63%);
- selling products or services (46%); and
- gathering ideas/suggestions (42%).
According to BMO, key challenges for businesses looking at using social media include that it takes time to build a social media presence and that social media’s impact on a company’s bottom line is more difficult to assess than more traditional forms of marketing.
BMO is predicting that social media will become increasingly important for Canadian businesses.
“Social media, while still a relatively new communication and marketing channel, is definitely here to stay,” said Cathy Pin, vice-president of commercial banking for BMO.
“We anticipate it playing an increasingly important role for Canadian businesses, as they look for cost-effective ways to open new markets and broaden and deepen their connection with customers.”
