Despite an unsteady economy, more than 40 percent of small to mid-sized business owners remained positive about their businesses heading into 2012, according to a survey from Zoomerang and GrowBiz Media. This is an optimistic (and somewhat surprising) outlook considering that 61 percent of small to mid-sized businesses faced economic hardships and 50 percent failed to meet business goals in 2011. The study also reveals that a third of small businesses plan to use advertising, marketing and social media as primary methods of attracting new customers, despite the fact that 25 percent claimed they are not comfortable with social media tools. It appears that becoming better acquainted with social media tools is a 2012 resolution for about one in four small to mid-sized business owners.

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