Social media 'essential' for customer engagement

The majority of UK marketers view social media as a critical part of their online strategy, a new survey has suggested.

Eight in ten of those responding to the poll held at Alterian's Engaging Times European Summit in London earlier this month said that social media is becoming more important to how successfully they harness the web for advertising purposes.

Almost four in ten of those who said that they use social media marketing revealed that they intend to do so this year to build brand advocacy, with 31 per cent utilising the channel for business development and lead generation.

"The technology to effectively engage with customers has been around for some time, but the rise of social media over the last year or so has rapidly sped this process up," commented David Eldridge, chief executive of Alterian.

In the UK, social networking is growing quickly among 15 to 24-year-olds in particular, according to figures from comScore.

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