Americans Expect Businesses to Engage Them Via Social Media

Attention healthcare marketers: A growing number of Americans expect you to engage them and communicate with them via social media.

My October 9 research brief from the Center for Media Research, drew my attention to a 2008 social media survey by Cone. You can access Cone’s information about the survey by clicking here. One of the key findings from the study was that of the 60% of Americans who use social media, 59% interact with businesses via social media sites. 43% said that companies should use social networks to solve consumer/customer problems. Another 41% said that businesses should use social media to get feedback from consumers on quality of products and services. And interestingly, 43% said that businesses should use social media to develop new ways for interacting with customers.

Quoting from the study:

“Of the younger, hard-to-reach users (age 18-34), one-third believe companies should actively market to the via social networks, and the same is true of the wealthiest households (household income of $75,000+). Two-thirds of the wealthiest households and the largest households (3 or more members) feel stronger connections to brands they interact with online.” (Source: The 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study)

The study found that men are much more likely than women to interact with companies via social media sites (33% to 17%).

Most importantly, 93% of the social media users surveyed believe that a business should have a social media presence; while another 83% felt that businesses should not only have a presence, but should actively engage and interact with customers online using social media platforms.

The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, had a sample size of 1,092 adults: 525 men and 567 women, 18+ in age.