Social Networking is becoming a necessity for every 21st century business

It has recently come to light that it is the small and medium-sized businesses who are using social networks to win new customers more successfully than larger firms. A new survey from global workspace provider Regus in June has shown that 42% of UK SMEs are winning new business using social media compared to 35% of firms with 250+ employees.

 “Social networking has finally come into its own in the commercial world, with the SME sector taking full advantage of their business contacts and commercial agility to surge ahead of the game when it comes to finding new customers. More large firms may testify to the importance of social media in today’s business environment and actively devote marketing budget towards the channel, but the fact remains that smaller firms are more successful in converting networking practices into customer acquisition.“says Celia Donne, Regional Director at Regus.

According to the research, half of the SME sector and slightly fewer large firms (46%) encourage employees to join business social networks. The study clearly shows that social networking has evolved from something that looks good on your webpage to a marketing necessity for any 21st century business.  The majority of SMEs (65%) and large firms (71%) agree that without social media activity, their marketing initiatives will not be as successful.

“As businesses in all size brackets emerge from the downturn, they are increasingly reconsidering pre-recession working practices and opting for more flexible, competitive strategies. Among these, the use of business social media is proving extremely successful and suited to the fast pace of recovery. Particularly in the UK where one in three social network users is a fan, follower or friend of a company page or profile, firms should expect to see an increasing proportion of marketing budget being destined to this activity.”  Celia Donne again.

For any  company, be you small, medium sized or large it is becoming increasingly clear that it would be foolish to let your marketing department  ignore the upward trend in engaging with Social networks to develop your business.

wired2create can deliver all your social media requirements providing a platform for flexible more competitive strategies to help you develop your business.

The following chart extracted from the Regus research is a very useful check list for reviewing your marketing strategy:

Proportion of companies…	UK	SME	250+ Employees
… actively using business social networks to interact with, and inform, their existing customers	48.0%	48%	47%
…successfully using business social networks to find new customers	41%	42%	35%
…encouraging employees to join business social networks	50%	50%	46%
…actively devoting marketing budget to social networking activity in order to reach customers	33%	31%	40%
...believing that marketing must now use social networks, in addition to traditional marketing techniques, to be successful	66%	65%	71%
…believing that companies who only use social networking and online campaigns, and who ignore traditional media/techniques, will find that their campaigns do not work Source: Regus	61%	59%	67%

Networking is becoming a necessity for every 21st century business