87% of Business People Use Social Media as Part of Their Marketing Strategy

KENT, ENGLAND, April 28, 2011 (Press-News.org) Research* carried out by internet marketing specialists Speedie Consultants shows how the social media revolution has really taken off, with almost 9 out of ten business people saying that it forms an integral part of their marketing strategy.

The survey - which was carried out across UK professionals - revealed that most people use a combination of different social media methods when marketing products and services:

- 64% use both Facebook and Linkedin;
- 50% "tweet" on Twitter;
- 35% blog.

In terms of time spent on their social media marketing activities, 47% of people spend around 1-2 hours a week on this. The most time is spent on Linkedin (43%); followed by Facebook (36%); blogging (21%); and Twitter (14%).

Just over a quarter of professionals (27%) say they spend 3 - 4 hours a week on social media marketing and a fifth (20%) spend more than 4 hours a week blogging, tweeting and networking.

And is all this marketing activity paying off?

While 33% said they couldn't see a return on their investment, 20% said they could - with 47% of respondents giving a very positive: "not yet, but it is coming".

Jason Hulott, Director from Speedie Consultants, says: "It does seem that businesses have really now started to embrace social media and are investing a lot of time and effort to develop these channels. It is also encouraging to see that most companies are seeing this as an investment as while 1 in 5 said they could see a return on investment, nearly half said they hadn't but felt it was coming. This reinforces our view that social media is good for business."

*Carried out throughout March 2011 on professional networking site Linkedin.

About Speedie Consultants
Speedie Consultants was established in 2003 by Jason and Stella Hulott, which sees them offering over 45 years' combined experience in the internet marketing and copywriting industries. Speedie Consultants Limited offers many solutions for businesses' internet marketing needs including the provision of web content; article marketing; natural link building; videos; social media marketing; mini-sites; blog set up and marketing; press release syndication; affiliate programme set up and management; and consultancy.

Website: http://www.speedieconsulting.co.uk