With social media usage on the rise and businesses looking to benefit from the increased exposure, one question is repeatedly asked by business owners: How can my business use social media effectively?

With that in mind, Get Social Media Milwaukee conducted a recent poll of 500 small business owners across the U.S. and unearthed some pretty surprising results. They were asked the following question: As small businesses plan to allocate more marketing dollars to social media in 2018, where do you see the most pressing need for your own business? A variety of answers came in, but they all shared three common traits.

Results showed that 29.2 percent of small business owners responded that they would like to have a social media consultant available to advise them; 26.4 percent responded that they are interested in paying for personalized social media courses and training; and 25.2 percent responded that they would like to hire a specialist to manage their social media accounts for them. The remaining 19.2 percent of respondents replied with either “other” or “none”.

“Getting this feedback was pretty eye-opening,” said Taylor Marek, owner of Get Social Media Milwaukee. “We always thought that companies wanted someone to manage their social media accounts for them, but that’s not the case here. It turns out that what they really want is someone available to advise them on social media. We’re excited to see more small businesses embracing social media as a cost-effective way to make their company known and attract more customers.”

About Get Social Media Milwaukee

Get Social Media Milwaukee specializes in providing social media management, coaching and consulting services to local small businesses owners. Since 2006, Taylor Marek (owner), has consulted for and managed the social media accounts for large corporations, NFL professional players and small business owners worldwide. He’s also been mentored by some of the top people in the industry and interviewed others for his internationally known podcast who have appeared on Entrepreneur Magazine Inc., Business Insider, Fast Company and more.