Forty per cent of businesses worldwide have used social networks to win new business, but in Bahrain this is true for only 31 per cent of companies, revealed a new global survey.

The fact that over a quarter of businesses world-wide (27 per cent) have set aside a proportion of marketing budget – hard cash – specifically devoted to social networking activities, shows that social networking is fast becoming an important business tool, found the survey commissioned by global workspace solutions provider Regus.

Up to now, relatively little analysis is available regarding the real use businesses are making of social networking and whether hard business can be generated through this channel. To glean whether businesses globally believe that social networking is ready to take its place among an array of marketing tools, the Regus survey asked business leaders not only whether they had made any customer wins using social networking, but also whether they believed the channel effective enough to be awarded its own portion of marketing budget.

In Bahrian specifically just under a third (31 per cent) of businesses have set aside a proportion of marketing budget devoted to social networking activities. 69 per cent of respondents declared they use social networks for personal networking purposes and about 77 per cent use social networking to keep in touch with business contacts.

69 per cent of respondents declared that the main usefulness of social networks was the possibility to manage and connect to customer groups, well over the 51 per cent global average. 62 per cent of respondents (globally 44 per cent) declared that they were impressed by audio/visual animations on a company profile. 24 per cent more respondents than average (22 per cent) had found employment through social networking.

Globally, social networks are still used for their original range of functions. The most popular use of social networks is staying in touch with business contacts, with 58 per cent of respondents globally declaring they use networks in this way. Joining special interest groups is also popular (54 per cent).

“Our groundbreaking global survey has revealed that social networking has finally become a mainstream business tool. Although there is a hardcore of sceptics globally, who do not believe that social networks will become a significant method of reaching customers and prospects, a significant proportion of firms are devoting real marketing budgets through the medium to acquire new customers and keep existing ones,” stated Joanne Bushell, vice president for the Middle East at Regus.

“With Facebook and Maktoob among the top eight most visited websites in Bahrain, social networking is evidently a popular activity, but reservations evidently remain towards its use in business.This survey indicates that organisations who have not yet ventured into the world of social networking may be missing out on sizeable business opportunities.”-TradeArabia News Service