West Coast Trumps the East Coast For Small Business Social Media

The study, which came from small business analytics company Radius, includes an infographic that looks at the top 85 U.S. cities and ranks them by social media presence and daily deal activity.

San Francisco was at the top of the list for small business social media savviness in the U.S., followed by (in order) Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, New York, Dallas/Fort Worth, Phoenix, and Tampa, Florida. That’s right: New York was ranked seventh, and other major East Coast cities (i.e. Boston) didn’t even make the top 20 (the exception being Washington, D.C.).

What’s the reason for this? It may be because many East Coast businesses, particularly those that have been around for decades, are touted as local “icons” that remain popular with tourists because of word of mouth, T.V. coverage, etc. Therefore, they see no reason to engage in social media at the moment. Or, it may just be that West Coast cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego do it better when it comes to small business social media!

Meanwhile, many small businesses in the northern and midwest United States are also using social media to connect. Grand Rapids, Michigan (29%) and Oklahoma City (28%) have the highest percentage of small businesses with Facebook pages, and Rochester, Minnesota (20%) has the highest percentage of small businesses with Foursquare check-ins. Who knows why, but it looks like the West Coast has some catching up to do – not with the East Coast, but with the heartland.