It's not too surprising. Constant contact did a survey of over 1,500 small business and found that most are using social media for marketing.

• 73% are currently using social media for marketing
• 62% expect to start using social media for marketing this year
• 81% of those using social media expect to increase their efforts in this area

In this report, Spring 2011 Attitudes and Outlook Survey they found that email, websites, event marketing and advertising were all used by small business to drive marketing.

In addition and also not surprising, Facebook was reported as the number one social media marketing tool and 80% of respondants said they had increased their use in the past year. In 2010, only 63% of respondants reported that Facebook was important in their marketing efforts. Additional tools reported as effective included Twitter® - 47%, LinkedIn® - 47%, YouTube® or Vimeo® - 73% found them effective.

It was nice to see Constant Contact acknowledge that online social media tools should be a complement to a small business marketing activities. Email, website, print advertising, online advertising and event marketing remain an important part of a small business marketing plan as ways to reach new prospects.

Then, convert those prospects into customers by showing and then delivering tremendous value.