Social Media Is Driving Higher ROI For Small Businesses Than Last Year

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Seven out of eight social networks improved their perceived ROI this year among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to a survey conducted by BIA/Kelsey.

• Among SMBs that reported using Facebook ads, 26% said the ROI was 10-19x of their ad spend. What's more, 19% said they achieved 20x return on their ad spend.
• SMBs ranked the ROI from YouTube and Facebook pages slightly lower than what they achieve from marketing on blogs.
• Twitter is holding its own as a marketing channel, as 19% of SMBs reported 10 to 19x return on their spend. LinkedIn however, ranked the lowest among social media as an ROI driver.

BIA/Kelsey noted that Twitter and LinkedIn are still relatively new marketing channels for small businesses and that there is "ample room to optimize effectiveness."

Facebook is proving that social media advertising can be an ROI-driver, even more so than owned media.

In Other News ...

A photographer won a $1.2 million settlement after two media companies used photos he had posted on Twitter. (Reuters)

Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and other leaders in the tech industry were guest speakers at Y Combinator's Startup School, where they offered some valuable advice to entrepreneurs. (Business Insider)

Social media data partner Datalogix hired Steven Wolfe Pereira as its new chief marketing officer. Previously, Pereira was an executive at Starcom MediaVest. (AdAge)

The Wall Street Journal published a profile on Yuri Milner, who invested large sums in both Facebook and Twitter while both companies were still privately owned. (Wall Street Journal)