• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, September 2, 2015

“Now, small and medium-sized businesses … from Honduras to Hong Kong can more effectively reach their target audiences on Twitter in 15 languages,” Richard Alfonsi, VP of global online sales at Twitter, explains in a new blog post.

Twitter launched its self-service ad platform over two years ago. Having since attracted a lot of little businesses, Twitter presently boasts about 100,000 active advertisers.

While many have been slow to embrace digital marketing channels, SMBs are now joining the party en masse. SMB retailers, for instance, are presently planning to spend 43% of their total ad budget on digital media, according to recent findings from BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor service.

Most SMBs in the retail space spend their money on social media. In fact, some 74% of SMB retailers have a Facebook page, with 29.7% paying for Facebook ads, the research firm found.

Facebook has invested significant resources to attract SMBs and their digital budgets. Last summer, for instance, the social giant launched a five-city tour led by Dan Levy, Facebook’s director of small business, to sell small businesses on the power of paid social.

As a result, Facebook recently surpassed 2 million active advertisers -- most of which are SMBs.

Among other efforts, Twitter has pushed a “quick promote” feature, which makes it easier for SMBs to promote Tweets that have already resonated well with their existing followers. The innovation was based on internal findings. Users who see a relevant Promoted Tweet from an SMB are 32% more likely to visit that business.