Digital and Social Media Marketing Statistics Affecting Australian Businesses in 2011

Sensis e-Business Report 2011 –The Online Experience of Small and Medium Enterprises

Australian Digital and Social Media Stats 2011

There aren’t very many places on the Internet where you can get reliable data for Australian businesses’ use of digital marketing strategies except for Sensis annual reports including Sensis Social Media Report (May 2011) and Sensis e-Business Report “The Online Experience of Small and Medium Enterprises” (October 2011).

This special report examines a selection of Australian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and their attitudes towards, and experiences with, e-business and social media. Research with 1,800 SMEs was undertaken across a range of online technologies, including the internet and email. Results in this report also include data on Australian consumers, which was collected concurrently through a consumer survey of 1,000 consumers. (quote from Sensis)
Here are the highlights relating to social media and digital marketing that affect Australian small and medium sized enterprises. The purpose of stating this statistics is to encourage small and medium sized businesses in Australia to re-think their attitude to digital marketing with their website and with their social media presence:-

About the Australian Consumer Digital and Social Media Usage:-

• 80% of Australians online used Internet to research products or services
• 64%of Australians purchased online in previous 12 months spending an average of $2,900 with 88% of online purchases were by users aged in their 30s and 74% by males
• 59% of Australians online used Internet to access social networks with 42% accessing social networks more than once per day
• Use of social networks by Australians aged in their 30s increased by 15% in 12 months
• 44% of Australians online used Internet to read blogs
• 12% of Australians have iPad or tablet device
• 92% of Australians have a mobile phone with 50% having Internet access
• Users of internet capable mobile phones aged in their 30s increased by 19%
• 67% of Australians with Internet capable mobile phones used it to research products and services

About the Australian Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) Digital and Social Media Usage:-

• 95% of SMEs have access to the Internet
• 67% of SMEs have a website
• 68% of SMEs with a website reported improved effectiveness of their business mainly from received business enquiries and more exposure to the market
• 18% of SMEs connected to the Internet joined social networks for their business (increased from 10% 12 months ago) with the most common platform being Facebook at 89%
• 51% of SMEs that used social media reported that it had a positive impact on their business citing increased networking opportunities; good advertising and good customer feedback.
• 48% of SMEs that used social media reported no effect to business
• 1% of SMEs that used social media reported negative effect to business
• 26% of SMEs that used social media did so on a daily basis
• 25% of SMEs that used social media updated once a week
• 5% of SMEs that used social media never updated
• 11% of SMEs that used social media updated a few times a year
• 59% of SMEs with a website took orders online with 60% of those selling mainly to customers in the same city or town and 27% selling to overseas customers
• Only 16% of SMEs with an Internet presence had a digital strategy of which 54% included a mobile component and 53% included a social media component
• 88% of SMEs research products and services online
• 77% of SMEs placed orders online for products and services
• 58% of SMEs reported they had recovered their investment in e-commerce with a further 12% expecting to recover investment in next 12 months

Is Your Business Missing Out On Business Without An Adequate Digital and Social Media Presence?
If you don’t know where to start, contact [email protected] for an evaluation of your current digital and social media marketing strategies.

This information has been taken from the Sensis e-Business Report “The Online Experience of Small and Medium Enterprises” (October 2011). To view the full report visit http://about.sensis.com.au/small-business/sensis-ebusiness-report/