Businesses say they find Facebook, Twitter most useful social media tools

When asked to evaluate social media tools, slightly more businesses said they found Twitter (26.5%) useful when compared with those who prefer Facebook (24.5%). Both services were considered the most useful out of all the tools listed, with blogging coming in third at 15.1% and 17% saying they find none of the services helpful.

“It’s probably that they haven’t dedicated the right amount of time and thought to managing social media,” said Lyn Mettler, president ofStepAhead Inc., a Charleston public relations and marketing firm that specializes in brand awareness and social media. “I always say social media should be, in a dream world, a full-time job for somebody.”

She said companies use strategic social media campaigns to generate sales leads, interact with customers and build brand awareness, but it’s important to have reasonable and attainable expectations.

“If you expect it to bring you in just tons of business, that’s not goingto happen either. I think it’s a tool about building awareness of your brand,” Mettler said. “You have to be on there quite a lot and have a strategy.”

Mettler said a lot of people stumble because people think they can set up a free Facebook or Twitter account and post occasionally and generate a lot of sales leads.

“That’s when social media becomes a waste of time. You need to give it all you have or not do it at all,” she said.

Several large companies, such as Comcast and Blackbaud, use social media to interact with customers and handle problems by responding to online postings. Mettler said StepAhead manages customer service issues for Myrtle Beach Hotelsonline reservation service when there are problems with a room or a customer isn’t happy.

“We deal with customer service issues for them almost on a daily basis,” she said. “You’re top-of-mind, and you’re one click away.”

Several of the businesses that commented on the Daily Journal poll seemed to use several social media tools and understood what to expect from them.

One business uses Facebook to connect with potential customers.

“Facebook because the people there already know me and are sold when they contact me.”

Other comments:

• “Twitter has been a great way to get in front of potential clients and demonstrate our expertise.”
• “It’s more of a three-way tie: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn combined are more than the sum of their parts!”
• “Twitter can be useful for local virtual networking but LinkedIn has actually brought me new clients.”
• “Hard to give direct exact results — allows us an opportunity to communicate and listen.”