About 28.6% of Western European SMBs with employees ranging between 20 and 499 currently use social media for business purposes, according to a new report from IDC.
The report reveals that social media adoption in the region is anticipated to progress at a fast pace in the following two years.
According to the report the adoption of social media depends on the size of the company, and larger the company the higher will be the adoption for business purposes.
By mid-2014, about 56% of higher end midmarket firms employing about 250-499 people will be on board a social media journey, compared to 40% of small SMB with work force ranging between 20 and 49 employees.
IDC European Industry Solutions senior research analyst Nina Bonagura said that the adoption of social media tools within the business is progressing at a fast pace among Western European SMBs, as business executives are increasingly supportive.
"Cost is nonetheless still a challenge, as economic conditions make it difficult to raise and set aside the necessary funds for investment," Bonagura said.
"So providing clear ROI measures, best practices, and educate SMBs through evidence based business cases that weight both tangible and intangible benefits associated to social media in delivering on business goals is crucial."
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In addition, the report suggests that SMBs disclose a higher maturity in deploying social media tools for customer facing and marketing processes, while fail to recognise the influence of social media tools into other processes.
