Who Is Using Social Media and How? +Infographic

While social media use reaches across demographic age groups, there is no question that its growth has been fueled primarily by teens and young adults.

Social media, therefore, is not only used by individuals. Where
the individuals go, so go the marketers looking to turn them into
loyal customers. In fact, over 54% of all major U.S. corporations
(those with over 500 employees) use social media technology,
as do 74% of companies with less than 500 employees.6 Blogs
are particularly popular among corporations because they are
inexpensive to create, give a company the freedom to steer the
conversation in a beneficial direction, and allow the blog editor
to eliminate potentially damaging user comments. In addition,
because reading blog postings ranks among the highest of all
social media activities for both younger and older adults, marketers
have the best chance of capturing audience attention by
blogging.

Companies that deploy social media applications are doing so externally
but are also using these tools within their organizations, as a
means of improving internal operations. Internally, social media programs
provide valuable benefi ts, including:

• Enriched employee communication and collaboration
• Identifi cation of experts and individuals with key information
within the company
• Improved knowledge management

infographic.socialmedia