Customer acquisition is a necessary part for any business. It is easily possible by the use of social media. However, some firms are involved in measuring the return on investment of social media marketing, whereas some businesses are more interested towards customer acquisition in spite of the investment.
According to the study by Regus in February-March 2010, it was found that customer acquisition for about half of the small businesses was by social networking. Social media usage was found to be less successful among larger businesses where only a quarter of them received social success through customer acquisition.
The survey was also done on senior managers and business owners around the world. It was found that customer acquisition was different for different countries. Among them 40% of the surveyed firms had used social media for customer acquisition. In the U.S. about 35% of the businesses used social media.
It is important for the small businesses to support the retention efforts of the customers and also interact with the customer groups. Business opportunities might be decreased for the businesses who are not using social media sources. According to the Hubspot study in January 2010, customer acquisition was attained by 40% of the companies through social media networking. A further increase in use of social media was estimated by the Regus study.