• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, September 13, 2018

Whether they’re small, medium, or large, businesses value social media.

That’s according to new research from social-media management platform Hootsuite, which based its findings on recent feedback from roughly 9,000 businesses across 19 countries.

Overall, 87% of respondents agree with the statement that social media is important to staying competitive, while 80% reported that social media is now more important to their business and customers than it was last year.

Of note, a majority (54%) of organizations now believe that social transcends their marketing teams, which makes perfect sense to Penny Wilson, CMO, Hootsuite.

“With social increasingly becoming how customers consume media, conduct research, ask questions and seek recommendations, make purchase decisions, engage with brands for support and show our loyalty, this is not a surprise,” Wilson notes.

A full 90% of organizations now report using social to build brand awareness; 77% to manage their brand reputation; 71% for building and managing an engaged community; 61% to increase lead conversions and sales; 50% to gain market and customer insights; 47% for delivering customer service; 35% to attract job applicants; and 22% to identify crisis and manage communications.

Despite the expanded use of social across their organizations, 58% of respondents said they still find it difficult to evaluate whether social media campaigns are working, while 50% admit struggling to understand and interpret social data.

Those issues don’t appear to be affecting businesses future outlook on the role that social will play in their businesses. In fact, 67% of respondents agreed that social media will increasingly contribute to their bottom line.