SmallBusinessNewz

Study Looks at Online Retail and Social Networks

Social media marketing is one of those things that just continues to spark debate no matter how well some businesses do with it. Business owners often have questions like:

- Won't this slow my employees' productivity?

- Is it really worth my time and money?

These are valid questions, but the answers aren't always clear. There are both pros and cons to using social media for business purposes, but more appropriately, there are variables as I discussed here. When it comes down to it, it just depends on a variety of factors.

Still, there is no question that many businesses are reaping the benefits, and many others are trying, even if they have yet to see solid results. Some of those who are not seeing benefits might be expecting results without putting enough effort into their social media strategies.

"It’s important that retailers don’t just slap up a page because everyone is talking about Facebook," says Rosetta Partner Adam Cohen. "An effective presence requires that you carefully consider what your customers are looking for, what you would like to communicate, and what role a fan page should play in your overall online strategy."

Rosetta is a firm that conducted a study recently focusing on the top 100 online retailers in the United States. According to that study, 59 of them had Facebook fan pages (only 30 had them in May). Emarketer looked at the study and provided the following chart for those businesses:

So over half of the top 100 online retailers are using Facebook. I wonder how many of the remaining half are using other social networks. Many consumers expect to find companies on social networks, so that's something to think about. They also appear to like ads on their social networks.