UK growth in use of B2B social media drives success

41% of UK businesses (up from 33% last year) are winning new customers through social media – this is according to a global survey of 17,000 businesses by Regus Group

The infographic outlines global social media adoption by businesses. Interestingly, it is China and India that lead the way. But, when it comes to the UK, there are some useful findings too:

• • 48% of UK  businesses use social media to engage, connect with and inform existing customers
  • In the UK 50% of firms encourage their employees to join business networks, compared to 53% globally
  • A third of UK companies devote up to 20% of their marketing budget to business social networking activity

Regus also draws a correlation between B2B social media and financial success too. You can find more in the full report on “a social recovery”

The real nugget of insight though is that most businesses, almost half the UK companies surveyed, are using social media to stay connected with customers. It sounds indicative of early adopter behaviour: playing it safe and developing skills with customers that companies already know. The opportunity that’s still up for grabs is lead generation. Certainly, in this, China is leading the way.

Speeding up progress from good customer relations to a focus on lead generation starts with training and empowering employees. Rather than letting staff learn organically, a structured focus works better. A proper plan can advance staff from relationship maintenance to generating advocacy and ultimately new contacts.  You can find out more in our white paper on B2B social media.