Indian firms using social media to win new business: Survey

MUMBAI: Indian companies have increased their usage of social networks like Facebook, besides blogs, microblogs like Twitter and other on-line fora to win new business in 2011, a survey said.

An increasing number of Indian companies are using social media as an effective business tool with 83 per cent firms in India agreeing that without social media activity, marketing strategies cannot hope to be successful, while globally, 74 per cent companies endorse the view, according to the survey by Regus, a leading office-space solutions provider.

"Around 52 per cent of businesses globally and 64 per cent in India use sites like Twitter and Weibo to engage, connect with and inform existing customers.

In India 67 per cent of firms encourage their employees to join social networks such as LinkedIn, Xing and Video, compared to 53 per cent globally.

Two-fifths, or 39 per cent, of companies globally and 49 per cent of Indian companies devote up to 20 per cent of their marketing budgets to business social networking activity," the survey said.

The global Regus survey findings are based on the responses of over 17,000 managers and business owners across 80 countries. In 2010, Regus found that 52 per cent of Indian firms were successfully winning new customers through business social networking activity.