The interesting question about business use of social media is rapidly shifting from one of
adoption – whether companies actually using various social media channels to build brands,
promote products or services, engage with customers and more – to one of utilization
focused on understanding how businesses, and business people, are taking advantage of
these new media. Mounting research, including the fact that 46% of US adults now
participate in social networks, and a quarter do so weekly1, make it increasingly difficult to
pigeon-hole social media as something relevant to only specific demographic groups or
personal vs. work lives. Social media is here to stay, and marketers need all the help they
can get understanding this new communication channel.
Business.com’s 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study was designed to
assess current trends in the use of social media in North American businesses. Based on
2,948 valid responses to our online Business Social Media Benchmarking Survey during
August and early September, 2009, the results provide a very useful benchmark for where
businesses, and business people, are finding value in social media across different activities
and sites. The study was focused on social media utilization – how people and companies
are using social media in a work context today – and not on adoption. All study participants
currently used social media in their day-to-day jobs as a resource for business-relevant
information and/or worked for a company currently managing, developing or planning social
media initiatives.
Most Popular Social Media Resources for Business
Among those using any form of social media to find business-relevant information, the most
poular activity is attending webinars or listening to podcasts (69%) followed by reading
ratings/reviews for business products or services (62%). The least popular activities are
saving business-related links on social bookmarking sites (28%) and participating in
discussions on 3rd party web sites (29%).
Most Useful Social Media Resources for Business
Not suprisingly, respondents rated attending webinars/listening to podcasts and reading
ratings/reviews about business products or services as the most useful social media
resources for business-relevant information. These are also the top resources used by
respondents
We also asked respondents to describe the MOST useful social media resource they’ve
found for business. The value of webinars and podcasts is clearly in the ability to learn new
skills and/or research industries, products and services without the time and expense of
traveling to conferences or other offline events.
“The most useful social media resource is the webinars.
I feel that they offer the most, don’t demand that I travel,
spend a lot of money, or even make a huge commitment
of time. They are usually well focused on a topic and
therefore don’t waste my time with a lot of unrelated
topics.”
Webinars are also very convenient for professionals in rapidly changing or evolving industries
where ongoing training is essential. For example, an accountant described the value of
webinars in this way:
“Webinars from professional sites–Tax law is ever
changing so we rely webinars and and other instant
media to update us on the latest changes in tax
accounting. Social media is critical to our industry; as
our government is bent on swift changes which affects
the taxpayers tax return.”