According to a recent study “The evolution of Social Media among Western European SMBs”, by IDC, 28.6% of Western European SMBs with between 20 and 499 employees currently deploy some form of social media for business purposes, and moreover adoption is projected to progress at a fast pace in the next two years. The data is based on a survey of 1,603 Western European companies, including 791 small and midsize companies with 20–499 employees.
The study found that there is a strong correlation between company size and level of adoption of social media for business purposes, the larger the company the higher the adoption of social media tools for business purposes. It revealed that by mid-2014, 56% of higher end midmarket companies with 250-499 employees will have embarked in a social media journey, against 40% of small SMB with between 20 and 49 employees. The IDC study also found that though SMBs reveal a higher maturity in using social media for customer facing and marketing processes, they fail to identify how to effectively leverage social media tools into other processes.
Commenting on the insights, Nina Bonagura, senior research analyst, IDC European Industry Solutions said,”Adoption of social media tools within the business is progressing at a fast pace among Western European SMBs, as business executives are increasingly supportive. Cost is nonetheless still a challenge, as economic conditions make it difficult to raise and set aside the necessary funds for investment. So providing clear ROI measures, best practices, and educate SMBs through evidence based business cases that weight both tangible and intangible benefits associated to social media in delivering on business goals is crucial.”
