Small and medium sized companies in Ireland are increasingly using social media and adopting social media marketing techniques but the pace of adoption remains quite low. According to a new survey carried out by the O2 Ideas Room, (23%) of senior SME executives are now members of a business/professional social media site. The most popular is LinkedIn at 18%. In addition, 15% of Irish SMEs have their business on Facebook, rising to 20% for technology related companies. One in ten SME businesses has a Twitter account. The study surveyed over 300 owners or director level executives in organisations employing between 1-250 people nationwide.
“We already know from discussion topics on the O2 ideas room blog that SMEs are becoming more interested in social media, so it’s good to be able to verify that through this research,” said Jonnie Cahill, head of communications & sponsorship, Telefónica O2 Ireland. “The findings suggest that social media is increasingly becoming part of how SMEs are marketing themselves.”
The study, which was conducted for the O2 ideas room by Behaviour & Attitudes, finds that almost one in ten businesses (9%) has a blog, up from 5% last year. 11% of technology companies blog, while 13% of senior SME executives contribute to or respond to blogs.
The findings of the SME Social Media survey can be downloaded from the O2 ideas room at www.o2.ie/ideasroom.   
Pictured are Grainne Madden (regular blogger on the Ideas Room and senior consultant, GMJ Associates) and Jonnie Cahill, head of communications & sponsorship, Telefónica O2 Ireland.

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