A new study has come out about adult use of social networks. Like with every other demographic, it’s going up. Though adults still rank well below youngsters, the late adopters are still adopting as the human race moves closer and closer to 100% virtual living. Okay, so maybe that’s a little grandiose. Just because something continues to grow now, doesn’t mean it is never going to stop. Still, there doesn’t appear to be any end in sight, according to the numbers.

89% of users still consider social networks to be primarily social, but business use is growing. The majority of social networkers have multiple accounts, some for business some for personal. Of course, younger adults have the highest percentage of use:

75% of 18-24
57% of 25-34
30% of 35-44
19% 45-54
10% 55-64
7% 65+

I was surprised to see that Myspace still ranks highest for usage, with 50% of all social network users. Facebook has 22% and LinkedIn has 6%, with 1% left over for YouTube. Among older users, privacy was of the greatest concern, but wasn’t keeping them from setting up profiles like it used to.

As the Marketing Director here at TurnKey, it’s my job to keep up with all the social networking stuff the kids are doing these days. In all seriousness, social networking has had a real impact on how we do business. Since the very beginning of the company, TurnKey has been focused on the customer first. Adam Wills, our president, firmly believes that customer satisfaction is the single most important part of a successful business. I couldn’t agree more! So, when I came on last summer, my job was to facilitate our customer communication and to present TurnKey to the world as a company that cares about nothing more than keeping our customers happy.

Of course, these times being what they are, the logical first step was to set up accounts on all the social networks. I built our profiles and started posting company news and coupons, but quickly realized I wasn’t getting the kind of customer interaction I had hoped for. There are so many commercial enterprises out there vying for eyeballs nowadays and people are wary of befriending companies that might just end up spamming them.

I realized social networking works best for our business as an extension of our ticketing/contact system. By using Twitter and Facebook to respond to questions about our services, I engage our customers, help them out and encourage them to stay connected. When I do post the occasional coupon or special, the customers who have connected with us through the network in the past appreciate the notification because it comes on the heels of actual real human interaction. Nowhere does it say that being part of a company means you can’t make small talk or be friendly but so often in this virtual space, companies are all business. Of course it goes without saying that professionalism is important, but we are selling services to people, not machines. They are called social networks, after all. If you’re going to use them (and doesn’t everyone?) I think you should make an effort to really connect.

Anyhow, I’d like to give a shout to Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for facilitating our communication with our clients. You’ve given us great tools for understanding how we can be a better company!

If you would like to connect with TurnKey on the social networks, you can!

TurnKey on Facebook
TurnKey onTwitter
TurnKey on Myspace

Come tell us what you think, what you need and how we can better serve you! We’re all ears.