Social Media - Why? II

Can I afford not to do this social media thing?
I came across a slightly alarming if not completely surprising stat from Sage UK: less than one in ten of the 1,200 small and medium-sized enterprises surveyed ahead of the recent Social Media Week 2011 are using social media to engage with their customers.

The business software and services company revealed that of the 4,000 clients it polled, only 8.4 per cent connected with consumers using social media."With more people using social media for business and pleasure, the opportunities for small businesses to have a better understanding of their customers are greater than ever," the firm commented.

If we take another piece of research conducted by infoGROUP we’re informed that 84% of people say that online customer evaluations have a direct influence to buy a product or service. 

It’s surely therefore critical for companies to understand as they fight to be considered by consumers and look for ways to be ever present through a variety of channels, that taking a more proactive approach to participating in, monitoring and ‘controlling’ on line conversations may very well be one of the ways many organisations can influence both consumer consideration and ultimately the buying decision.