‘26 Promising Social Media Stats for Small Businesses’ by Phil Mershon is a very interesting article that provides encouraging information about the use of social media for small businesses.  (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-promising-social-media-stats-for-small-businesses/) 

Social media is changing the way small companies do business for the better.  As more and more people log on to social media sites every day, a company’s potential for their ads to be seen increases.  Over 80% of all Americans use social media, and nearly 23% of the time they spend online is on social media networks.  Another interesting statistic is that almost 40% of social media users access their accounts through mobile devices.  This means there is great potential for businesses to utilize social networking sites and mobile phone apps to promote their products and services.  Social media networking sites are global and not restricted to any geographic area; about 75% of Facebook users live outside of North America.  This means small businesses can compete on a global scale and expand their business. 

In this article, it states that Comscore released a study earlier this year that showed how business brands that post at least once every day will reach 22% of their fans in a given week.  This is quite a high percentage of individuals being exposed to a brand name or advertisement.  There is an increasing amount of elderly individuals that are using social media; however college students make up the majority.  The opportunities for small businesses to connect with customers are vast, but so is the competition.  If businesses can target their audience effectively through social media there is no telling how far they will be able to go.