Companies Worldwide Plan to Increase Social Media Marketing

Another great article from emarketer.  Social media marketing has been debated for the last two years about how to tie an ROI to it. It seems as if the ROI battle has been decided but business are will to invest in social marketing.

Social media is becoming an important part of business around the world, and companies in many regions are planning to increase their use of it in the coming months.

For its “International Business Report,” Grant Thornton LLP spoke to senior executives from across the globe in August and September 2011 to determine how their companies used social media.

Companies in Latin America were the most likely to use social media, as 53% of respondents there said their companies currently do so and 78% said they planned to increase its use. Businesses in countries within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and those in Nordic countries also planned to increase social media use in the coming months, at 75% and 72% of respondents, respectively, according to the Grant Thornton report. Comparatively, 47% of companies in North American countries currently use social media and 60% planned to increase use.

Companies in Select Regions that Use Social Media, Sep 2011 (% of respondents)

As emerging markets grow economically and internet access becomes more widely available in their countries, companies in Latin America and the BRIC nations—Brazil, Russia, Indian and China—are leveraging social media to reach their target audiences.

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