Small Businesses on Track to Beat Revenues as Confidence in the Economy Surges

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Surprisingly, fewer than half of entrepreneurs say social media and virtual communities are critical to many aspects of their business. Only 24% rely on social media for hiring, 37% use it to sell goods and services, and roughly two in five use social platforms to share updates with customers. Just 30% say social media has had a positive impact on their business’ bottom line in the past year. Instead, nearly three-quarters of business owners say they rely more on in-person interactions and networks for support running their business.

While social platforms aren’t seen as critical to small business success, digital tools that help businesses manage daily business operations are. Nearly three-quarters of entrepreneurs use at least one digital tool to run their business, with digital banking (46%) and financial tracking and/or accounting apps (34%) reported as the most popular tools.

Not all small business owners downplay the role of social media. Millennial entrepreneurs buck the national trend, reporting they are much more reliant on social media for sharing updates with their customers (74%), selling goods and services (66%) and hiring employees (56%). Forty-nine percent of millennials say social media has had a positive impact on their business’ bottom line in the past year, a full 19 percentage points higher than the national average. And, half of millennials primarily turn to virtual communities to connect with others about business matters. This generation is also the most likely to use digital tools—nine out of 10 use at least one for daily operations, and 49 percent of millennials use digital banking.

As hiring focus shifts, raises and rewards key to retention, while employee talent remains a key factor for growth

While plans to hire in the year ahead have cooled (16% in fall 2017 vs. 25% in fall 2016), entrepreneurs are focused on maintaining current staffing levels (76% in fall 2017 vs. 64% in fall 2016), and very few plan to downsize. Of those who are planning to hire in 2018, 70% plan to bring on full-time employees, and just over half plan to hire part-time staff. Fewer than one in five plans to hire freelancers, independent contractors, interns or seasonal employees.

Small business owners continue to be thoughtful about retaining talent, with more than half taking steps within the past two years to do so, such as offering flexible hours or work locations (34%), providing perks such as office happy hours (17%) and giving spot bonuses or rewards (15%). Eighty-nine percent of entrepreneurs provide wage increases and promotions, with most raises given on an unscheduled basis (55%) driven by either employee performance or positive business growth. Meanwhile, 22% give raises every year, no matter what.

When asked about the top factors impacting business growth, more than three-quarters of business owners cited their ability to attract and retain quality employees.

For a complete, in-depth look at the insights of the nation’s small business owners, read the fall 2017 Bank of America Business Advantage Small Business Owner Report, and for additional insights, download the Small Business Owner Report infographic here.

Bank of America Business Advantage Small Business Owner Report

GfK Public Communications & Social Science conducted the Bank of America Small Business Owner Report survey for fall of 2017 online between August 8 and September 28, 2017 using a pre-recruited online sample of small business owners. GfK contacted a national sample of 1,013 small business owners in the United States with annual revenue between $100,000 and $4,999,999 and employing between two and 99 employees. In addition, a total of approximately 300 small business owners were also surveyed in each of 10 target markets: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Approximately 150 interviews were also completed among respondents in the tech and medical/health care fields. The final results were weighted to national benchmark standards for size, revenue and region.

Prior to 2016, previous waves of the Small Business Owner Report survey were conducted by telephone and while best efforts were made to replicate processes, differences in sample, weighting, and method suggests caution when making direct statistical comparisons of the results from pre-2016 and post-2016.

About Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 47 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 4,500 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATMs, and award-winning digital banking with approximately 34 million active users, including approximately 24 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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