LinkedIn increasing in usage

The number of users on LinkedIn has increased significantly over the past couple years since the social networking website was created. According to a survey of 600 small business owners across the United States, the usage of LinkedIn has also increased significantly among small companies.

Results of the survey revealed that 90 percent of small business owners are actively engaged in social networking websites and 74 percent believe that social networking is more valuable and convenient for small business owners than networking in person.

Since 42 percent of owners reported that 25 percent of new customers found their websites through social media sites, such as Facebook and Foursquare, it's almost a necessity for a small business to have an online social presence. Fifty-eight percent of owners also said they struggle with promoting their Facebook pages, if they even have one at all.

Considering Facebook gives entrepreneurs access to more than 800 million users across the world, developing a plan to effectively market a business' products and services on the site can be crucial to a company's success.

With more consumers using social media networks, like LinkedIn and Twitter, entrepreneurs should get the message that they should be where their target audience is if they want to increase the amount of revenue they bring in annually.

The Minnesota Star Tribune recently announced that it will launch a new array of digital marketing services for small- and medium-sized businesses to assist them in marketing in the newspaper.

Considering the large circulation number of the news outlet, business owners might find it helpful to increase their presence with a variety of small business marketing campaigns in the publication.