Social media has grown into an important data source for businesses, with many viewing it as an accurate depiction of customer behaviors and preferences. In its Customer Experience Trends Report 2016, digital marketing company Falcon.io reports that social engagement is a key enabler of outstanding customer experience (CX).

The survey found that 100 percent of marketing leaders use social data as part of their marketing campaigns, and that 60 percent see it as the future of their CX efforts. Falcon.io’s data revealed that CX is important to 90 percent of U.S. marketers, as opposed to 70 percent of European marketers, and that 78 percent of all respondents see it as important to their marketing strategy

“CX has become the vehicle that drives business, and social data is the fuel for its success,” says Ulrik Bo Larsen, founder and CEO of Falcon. “Marketers losing sleep at night over channel conversions have it backwards; a brand’s success in 2016 is measured by how well it caters to the customer journey. As our research shows, industry leaders are beginning to understand this and are creating connections at key emotional moments to win over customers and increase brand loyalty. Social data informs marketers where these emotional moments are and how that translates into sales.”

The global survey, conducted May-June 2016 in partnership with SSI, a provider of survey sampling and data collection solutions, questioned more than 600 marketers fitting the CMO, digital marketing manager and social media manager profiles across Europe and the U.S.

“Now more than ever, brands are recognizing the huge customer experience opportunity on social networks,” says Lauren Jenkins, head of official partner programs at Twitter. “Millions of customer service interactions happen on Twitter every day, and if brands are not paying attention, they risk missing out on these valuable opportunities to engage. Through the use of Twitter data, brands are able to receive insights on how to effectively communicate with customers and develop powerful, long-term relationships.”

The full report can be downloaded here.