Starple.co.uk

Regus Research 2010 found out the following in a study that they conducted to find out ifbusinesses acquire customers through social media.

1.    50%of small businesses acquire new customers through social media

2.    36%of medium size businesses acquire new customers through social media

3.    28%of large businesses acquire new customers through social media

It is commonly stated that social media is widely used to find new customers and to engage existing ones.

Here are 10 reasons why every business should utilise social media:-

1.   It builds your brand and strengthens your relationship with your customers. People can recommend your business to their friends and that’s extremely effective to drive new customers your way. According to Nielsen survey, 90% of consumers said that they trust recommendation from people that they know and 70% trust opinions from people who post reviews online

2.   Social media site arepopular: 500M on Facebook meaning that if it was a country, it would be the 3rd largest in the world. Twitter 145M and Linked in 70M. There is a chance that many of your target audience are using atleast one social media site.

3.   Social media is used byeveryone.Pingdom the web monitoring provider found out that 25% of social networking site users are between 35 and 44. 57% is older than 35 and the average age ofuser is 44

4.   Social media is a never-ending conversation: In June 2010, Facebook reported that halfits users login on any given day and spend up to 500 billion minutes on the site each month. 25 Billion content shared on Facebook each month. 65 Million tweets daily

5.   Instant Feedback: Customers can comment onyour positive and negative aspect of your business giving you the power toenhance what is working and work on your weak points

6.   2 Way communication: Allows you to have aninitial conversation with multiple consumers at any given time

7.   Share your profile: You can post important information about you or your business giving people an instant insight in what you do

8.   Social Media marketing is Free: SMM is free unlike other conventional marketing means

9.   Separate personal account from your business: Enable you to target your audience in a relevant  way

10. Social media is everywhere: People access their A/C from their mobile phones or even from the email. Like buttons and other software makes it more manageable.