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Drycleaners Warm to Social Media, Survey Shows

CHICAGO — More than half (52.0%) of drycleaners are using social media tools in marketing their businesses, according to the most recent survey appearing in the Wire, American Drycleaner’s e-mail newsletter, while 48.0% are not.
The most popular tool among drycleaners is Facebook, with 76.9% of respondents using the service on behalf of their businesses. Today’s “buzz” application, Twitter, and the professional network LinkedIn tied for second place, with 46.2% each, while 7.7% use the business-finder site MerchantCircle. No respondents reported using MySpace.
Most drycleaners (92.3%) who use social media employ it to inform clients and potential clients about their services. Many (61.5%) also use these tools to announce sales and promotions. And a few (23.1%) use the social media to stay in touch with suppliers and their best customers.
While almost all users agreed that today’s social-media tools are easy to use and several said that they have proven effective as marketing tools, the consensus was that it’s too early to tell how such tools will affect business. “These technologies are only now beginning to gain traction,” says one user. “Their effectiveness and longevity remain to be seen. Their pure leveraging potential suggests that they will only become more and more effective.”
While the American Drycleaner Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.
Subscribers to American Drycleaner’s Wire e-mails — distributed weekly — are invited to participate in an industry survey each month. The survey is conducted online via a partner website. Each survey is developed so it can be completed in 10 minutes or less. Readers are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.
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Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].