Marketers using social media now, wait for customers to follow suit

Survey reports that networking is popular, even if consumers don’t fully embrace it

Chances are you use social media. For most companies, using Facebook or Twitter or any of the other popular social media sites isn’t a question so much as it is a given. Of course we’re using social media—isn’t everybody?

A new study on digital readiness by ipressroom in conjunction with Trendstream, Korn/Ferry International and the Public Relations Society of America found that 70 percent of companies surveyed use social networking, 62 percent micro-blog, and 59 percent blog, podcast or use RSS. A startling almost 80 percent, though, still rely on e-mail marketing.

If companies still find e-mail marketing effective, though, there’s no use eschewing the old marketing techniques just because they’re old, says Heidi Miller, social media consultant with Heidi Miller.

“If organizations are checking metrics, they wouldn’t continue to run these campaigns if they’re no longer effective,” Miller says.