IT contractors may be required to help more firms incorporate social media into their digital marketing strategies, as one expert extols the benefits of the medium.

According to Jon Maddison, UK country director at Epsilon who was speaking at Internet World, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are a "fantastic" way of increasing product awareness.

One of the main benefits of using this method is that it is trusted, while both existing and news customers can be kept up-to-date with the latest offers and deals.

What's more, users can click straight through to the company website to take advantage of an offer - something that cannot be done so easily with direct mail, Mr Maddison adds.

"It's a nice, simple process for every recipient of an email, that's why it works as well as it does," he concluded.

According to a report published recently by small and medium businesses email marketing provider GetResponse, email messages that include a social sharing option generate 30 per cent higher click-through rates than emails without one.