These are the Biggest Factors in Content Marketing Success for Small Businesses

SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, has gathered statistics on successful content marketing strategies for small business. A key finding is that you should design your social media marketing with a purpose.What’s your reason or goal for being on various social media platforms, and more importantly, which one is right for your business or brand?

According to SCORE, currently most small business owners are using social media marketing to:

Promote a specific product/service (45%)
Share information about sales and discounts (38%)
Gain likes and fans (38%)
Solicit/respond to customer feedback (34%)
Provide videos highlighting products or services (29%)
Share a company blog post (20%)
Establish their personal expertise (23%)

Choosing the Right Social Network

Based on its findings, SCORE revealed which social media platforms are more commonly small business owners are using:

Facebook: 70%
Twitter: 38%
LinkedIn: 37%
YouTube, Vine, or Vimeo: 26%
Instagram: 25%
Company blog: 24%
Yelp: 16%
Pinterest: 14%
Live-streaming apps: 7%

To learn more, check out the infographic below. SCORE’ s network of mentors have been helping more than 10 million aspiring entrepreneurs since its start in 1964. Each year, SCORE’s over 10,000 volunteer business experts provide over 350,000 free small business mentoring sessions, workshops, and educational services to clients in over 300 chapters nationwide. In 2015, SCORE volunteers provided over 2.2 million hours to help create more than 45,000 jobs and 55,000 small businesses.