Mediaboss Marketing

Despite optimism about their future, female business owners have a lot of worries keeping them up at night. Social media, however, isn't one of them.

Among female business owners' chief concerns are growing their customer base, dealing with new health insurance and tax regulations and gaining much needed capital, a survey revealed. The survey was conducted by the National Association of Women Business Owners and Web.com Group Inc.

Specifically, 90 percent of female business owners are worried about gaining new customers, while 81 percent are just as concerned about keeping their existing ones. The study also shows that 80 percent are worried about business tax issues, 71 percent about the cost and accessibility of health insurance and 61 percent about their access to capital. [14 Social Media Marketing Solutions for Small Businesses]

While they might be facing a lot of challenges, women entrepreneurs are also very upbeat about their own as well as their peers' future prospects. Nearly 90 percent of the women surveyed are optimistic about their overall business performance in 2014, while 92 percent predict that more women will start their own business this year.

"Women small business owners are not just more optimistic about their own businesses, they're also more bullish about the prospects for female entrepreneurs who are just starting out," said Billie Dragoo, national board chairwoman of the National Association of Women Business Owners. "With a positive outlook and strong entrepreneurial spirit, women business owners continue to be a driving force of our economy."

The research also gauged how female business owners are using social media to help grow their companies. While 85 percent of the women surveyed believe social media is important for building customer relationships, only 67 percent currently use social media to connect with customers.

The study found that just 25 percent of female business owners are posting on social media at least once a day, with 23 percent rarely posting at all. When they do use social media, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube are the preferred platforms.

The research was based on surveys of 606 association members.

Originally published on Business News Daily.

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