ATLANTA, GA (June 21, 2011) A recent survey from Regus, the company that provides workplace facilities, found that almost half of U.S. business (43%) are using social media for customer acquisition -- up 8 percent from the previous year. From Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn to many points inbetween, more forward-thinking companies are putting their time and money where the people are.
Twitter may have started as a way to follow celebrities but it has now become an avenue for companies to share product updates, promote new products and services, and make "stars" out of some of their product development engineers. (Look at Google with Matt Cutts, for example). Quickly rising to the #5 spot as the most visited website, Twitter allows companies to keep a frequent running dialogue with customers. In the ad buying world, it's about reach and frequency. Build enough followers and you have the reach. Be a consistent tweeter, and you have frequency. Twitter feeds embedded in your website can show how in touch your company is with customers.
Facebook may have started out as a collegiate enterprise, but its certainly received a doctorate by now as the second most popular website in the world. In the seven years since launching the website out of their Harvard dorm, Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders brought the website from one million users in 2004 to more than 500 million active users today. Facebook has become a friendly, trusted environment where users control who they hear from and what they see. With the advent of fan pages and ads launched in 2007, Facebook offers an outlet to not only reach out to friends but to customers and potential customers as well.
LinkedIn, after going public on May 19, 2011 and doubling in price during the same day of the IPO, has settled in as what many say could mark the start of the next IPO rush. As a business-to-business networking site, LinkedIn is part Twitter, part Facebook and mostly business. From adding connections to adding recommendations, LinkedIn can play the part of the after-hours business mixer and the career booster, while also serving as a place to get business referrals and hold brainstorming sessions with like-minded professionals. From company pages to custom groups, LinkedIn offers a relevant platform to build business relationships and get leads.
Of course, as is most worthwhile ventures, utilizing these platforms takes regular activity with genuine intentions (lest your fans call you out for commercializing). While the possibilities are endless in how to take advantage of the business side of these social media environments, it's important align these exciting conduits of communication with your company's mission, goals and priorities so as to make the best use of staff and advertising expense.
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