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Social Network Sites Drawing More Business Users

Four Out of 10 Companies Listen to What Customers Say About Them Online

NEW YORK — Does your coin laundry have a social media presence? Not only consumers find their way onto the popular social network sites, an increasing number of businesses also use it.

Results from a recent study show that eight out of 10 U.S. companies are present on Facebook, while 45% have Twitter accounts. LinkedIn (48%) and YouTube (31%) are other widely used sites.

Four out of 10 American companies listen to what consumers say about them on social network sites, and 83% of companies indicate they always deal with questions or complaints sent to them via social media.

“Social media makes conversations between consumers very transparent,” says Prof. Steven Van Belleghem, partner at the research agency InSites Consulting, which surveyed more than 1,200 managers and business owners from several countries. “Companies can quite easily discover what people are saying about their products and services. An increasingly growing group is strongly interested in this real-time feedback from the market.”

But a mere 11% of companies are integrating their social media approach into their overall business strategy, while 17% say they are mid-integration. Some 26% of American companies aren’t doing anything with social media.

“A huge number of companies feel external pressure to be present on social media,” says Van Belleghem. “Unfortunately, this very often results in static corporate pages where nothing really happens. It too often leads to mere presence, not engagement with people.”

social network

Social network. (Photo: ©iStockphoto.com)

Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].