If you were wondering how important Twitter and Facebook are in your online marketing mix, a recent study by ComScore suggests that it could be a vital. With social networking becoming a mainstream online activity for all age groups, this is an opportunity to generate publicity for your product and engage with your customers like never before.

Although the opportunity to engage using social media has been around for while, and in itself is nothing new, the ComScore study is surprising in just how mainstream social networking has become. The study shows that social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are no longer the domain of the teenagers and the under 25s age group but found that more than two thirds of over 55s who are online visited a social networking site during the study in May. This increase in reach in all age groups shows that social networking is fast becoming a primary online platform to promote your business.

Reach Increases across the Board

Although the reach of 2 thirds was surprising the report contained other welcome news.  86% of 15 to 24 year olds and 89% 25 to 34 year olds visited a social networking site in May, each spending an average of 5.4 hours during the month. 

The average reach was 80% with 4.6 hours spent for the reporting period. To put that into figures it represents 29.4 million (yep, million) people visiting social media sites in May and that is just in the UK. This shows an increase of 9% on the previous year.