In terms of business advantage, over half of the channels felt that social media interaction increases companies’ brand awareness and almost a third highlighted the cost-effective nature of the medium.
The Mitel survey also looked into which social media sites channel workers used for personal leisure and LinkedIn also came out on top in this respect, with 72% of respondents using it. LinkedIn has traditionally been recognised as a business tool, so its popularity for personal use indicates that personal lives are increasingly intertwining with business and demonstrates a demand for communication tools that can cater for every need.
Andy Elliot, marketing director at Mitel, explained, “The world is changing and we are increasingly seeing the lines blur between personal and business communications. People need the flexibility to merge their communications tools from business to personal use and vice versa.
“Mitel is all about simplifying business communications and offering the flexibility for end users to integrate communications tools seamlessly into their life. It is particularly interesting to see this culture reflected in our channel partners, and good to see so many of them embracing innovative methods to engage with customers.”
Comms World, Scotland's largest independent voice and data communications company is an advocate of social media.
“As a company who is at the forefront of emerging new technologies it seemed only right that this ethos should also be applied to our marketing strategy. We have always embraced the full marketing mix and integration with social media marketing was the natural next step. We have recently re-launched our website and with that came the introduction to customer engagement through social media marketing.
Our social media channels include Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and You Tube and although still relatively new we have found the response to be very positive, it gives our customers flexibility on the ways they like to communicate with us and allows us to build trust, awareness and open up discussions with new prospects,” said Ricky Nicol, Chief Executive, Commsworld.