UK Companies That Use Social Media For Marketing (SMM) Are Beating The Slump

Twitter and Facebook Help Business According to a Survey by Sage Pay.

• British web stores grew an average 49 per cent in the past 12 months
• Three-quarters of these report using social media to drive sales.

Business software company Sage surveyed 1,000 British businesses of all sizes and types in May and June 2011 for their annual "benchmark report".

Sage found UK e-shops and businesses significantly ramped up their social media presence last year.

• Seventy-six per cent of the firms surveyed are now using Twitter to communicate with customers
• This represents double the number that were using the channel in 2010.
• Survey also found that 76 per cent of online retailers now have their own Facebook page, up 18 points from last year's report,

58 % of top performing sites used Facebook.

Other factors have played well for British e-tailers in the last 12 months with 57 per cent of them taking advantage of the weak Pound to expand into international territories. France, Germany and Spain were the most popular destinations for business expansion, but Britain's web-based exporters are finding success across the world, notably in China, where nearly one in five respondents said they now have a presence.

According to Sage, mobile retail is the next challenge for online shops.