Facebook For Business: Big Brands Disappointing Their Customers

Although 48 of the top 50 brands in the latest A.T. Kearney Social Media Study have Facebook pages, the way they use these pages is falling far short of what customers expect when it comes to social media. The study of how the top 50 brands used Facebook showed that 94 percent landed users on a one-way communication page -- 65 percent on a company-created tab and 29 percent on a company-only wall. In addition, 38 out of 50 allowed only company posts on their Facebook walls.

When consumers did contact businesses via social media, 27 out of the 50 companies never responded, and only four out of 50 companies responded to more than one-fourth of consumer comments.

Why it matters to your business: Corporate America's loss can be your company's gain. Get the edge over your bigger competitors by using social media for its intended purpose -- as a two-way communications street. A.T. Kearney found the most popular type of posts from companies were "personal postings," which didn't contain any promotional content. So get personal on your business Facebook page and watch it pay off.