With businesses increasingly devoting resources toward social media campaigns, new research by YouGov reveals how attitudes towards its implementation differ across gender and age demographics.
The research assessed the opinion of business decision makers on the presence of social media in business and found the majority (62%) agree that social media is vital to businesses keeping up with competitors. There are clear disparities between gender, with a higher percentage of women (73%) compared to men (59%) agreeing with the importance of social media in business to ‘keep up with competitors’. This is also the case for younger decision makers compared to their older counterparts.
A rapid change in the perception of social media is evidenced by a growing number of professionals joining platforms such as LinkedIn and other niche communities like Biznik, Cofoundr and Ecademy, which are targeted specifically at professionals. More than two-thirds (68%) agree that ‘Social media has become an important vehicle for business networking’, suggesting a shift in how B2B relationships are and will be created, developed and maintained.
In addition, with increased use of technological devices, there is a need for businesses to become accustom to its ever-growing online market. With 52% of business decision makers disagreeing that social media ‘is a passing fad’, this indicates the need to consider the allocation of future budgets to increasing social media activity and incorporate this into overall business strategies.
YouGov Associate Director Business Omnibus, Rudy Sooprayen, says;
“The report hints that the younger generation see larger potential for social media and its business activity compared to older age groups, which will have implications on present and future business strategies and planning.
Companies are now integrating various social media platforms to implement creative and innovative business strategies, supplementing a variety of areas from PR, marketing and market research to business networking. This will likely be a point of focus for many industries in the next few years.”
