Scottish firms look to social networking

A new survey has revealed that most businesses in Midlothian and East Lothian rate social networking highly as a component of their online marketing strategies.

Conducted by the Midlothian and East Lothian Chamber of Commerce, the poll found that all respondents were aware of social networking in general, with 87 per cent believing that social media should be part of their marketing campaigns.

Linkedin, E-academy and Flickr were cited by businesses as some of the social networking websites they used to keep in touch with clients and research prospects.

Laura Socha, manager of the Midlothian and East Lothian Chamber of Commerce, said that it is "astonishing" how quick companies have been adopt social media marketing for their own purposes.

"In today's economic climate, business people need to explore every possible avenue to win and keep more customers," she remarked.

Facebook is the most used social networking site in Europe, according to comScore.

The website saw almost 100 million European visitors in February this year, up 314 per cent compared with last year, the research firm said.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.