90% of Canadian Businesses Use Social Media

August 19, 2010 by Douglas Idugboe 

Canada loves social media! From business to politics and healthcare, social media has been embraced with open arms by Canadians. When it comes to using social media for business gains, Canada leads the worldwide charts with nearly 90% Canadian businesses adopting social media tools.
As a Canadian and a staunch social media loyalist, I'm overjoyed with these statistics provided by the March 2010 survey conducted by Leger Marketing. The survey was done on behalf of SAS Canada, a well-known business analytics company and involved polling nearly 1000 management staff from public and private sector organizations in Canada.
Survey Results
The survey's results are highly encouraging and project a bright future for social media in Canada. Nearly 21 per cent public-sector executives and 14 per cent private-sector executives said that social media is their most important means of public engagement.
Almost 90 per cent private-executives admit that their business uses social media in one some way or the other. However, nearly 50 per cent of all private and public organizations believe that they do not have the required resources to monitor social media.
Waste of Time, really?
Nearly 10% respondents believe that social media is an utter waste of time for their business and they will never opt for it. Nearly 15% of construction, manufacturing, real estate and legal executives say it is a waste of time. Almost 14% believe that it is a passing fancy which will die on its own in the next few years.
I'm pretty sure that these represent the "social media illiterates" who need to be educated on the value it can add to their business. If 9 out of 10 businesses are using it and doing reasonably well, social media is certainly not a fad.
Facebook and Twitter rule
It's unsurprising that Facebook and Twitter are the most popular social media tools amongst Canadian businesses. As many as 14 per cent Canadian businesses use Facebook for promoting their products and services.
Industry-wise Split
From an industry perspective, social media is most popular in finance and banking sectors with as many as 28 per cent organizations admitting that it's the most important means of communicating with the public about their brand. The survey confirms that social media is yet to make its presence felt in health services and pharmaceutical industry.
CEOs – Social Media Champions?
The survey affirms that social media follows the top-down growth chart in most business organizations. The CEOs are biggest social media champions as nearly 28 per cent businesses admit that the top business leader drives their social media strategy.
The survey is also a chilling reminder that the top management of organizations need to be "social media aware" in order to maximize their business.
Social Media for Enterprise is evolving
While the survey results report a mixed fortune for social media, it has a silver lining which indicates that social media is fast evolving in the enterprise segment. More businesses are realizing the added value of social media adoption and are chalking up plans to embrace it sooner than later.
Is your company amongst the 90% Canadian businesses that use social media? If so, what's your social media strategy and has it worked for you? Please share your social media success story with us by leaving a comment below this post.

http://smedio.com/2010/08/19/90-of-canadian-businesses-use-social-media