More and more companies in the US are turning to social media sites like Facebook and twitter. According to InSites Consulting survey, 61% of the American companies use Facebook, 39% have a Twitter account, 29% are present on LinkedIn and 24% use YouTube.

This proves that American companies have evolved further in their social media usage in comparison with companies in Europe.

The survey showed that companies find it very important to be present on social network sites. However this does not always mean their method is well thought out. A mere 12% of the companies are integrating their social media approach into their overall corporate strategy. 15% are mid integration. 44% are currently experimenting or taking their first steps on the social web. 29% of the companies are not even doing anything on social media. These numbers are very comparable in the US and in Europe. As for social media integration, the Netherlands are even ahead. 

“A huge number of companies feel the external pressure to be present on social media. Unfortunately this only too frequently results in corporate pages where nothing is really happening. So they create enthusiasm in their customers which in the end turns into disappointment.” states Prof Steven Van Belleghem, partner at the research agency InSites Consulting.

Four out of ten companies listen to what consumers say about them on social network sites. “Social media make conversations between consumers very transparent. It is the first time that a company can quite easily discover what people are saying about its products and services. An increasingly growing group is strongly interested (with good reason) in this real time feedback from the market”, declares Van Belleghem.

“Social media make conversations between consumers very transparent. It is the first time that a company can quite easily discover what people are saying about its products and services. An increasingly growing group is strongly interested (with good reason) in this real time feedback from the market”, said Prof. Steven Van Belleghem, Managing Partner InSites Consulting and author of The Conversation Company

Answering questions via social media is very successful. 69% of the companies indicate always dealing with questions or complaints sent to them via social media. Only 26% of the companies in this survey also talk to consumers. This is where the American companies are clearly way ahead of their European counterparts.

Chances are that there will soon be a digital gap in the corporate world. This survey has shown that companies which are already investing a lot in new media will do so even more in the future. Companies which are not investing much yet are not intending to do so. “Even though there is a clear digital evolution among clients, there are still companiess that are not convinced that they too have to go with the evolution. The risk for these companies is that, in a rather short term, they will miss out on an important target group.” concludes Van Belleghem.