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An expert has suggested firms could appeal to consumers more by engaging with them on a local level.

Writing for Clickz, Gregg Stewart highlighted research by comScore showing that 69 per cent of the public would be more likely to contact a local company if it ran its own social networking page.

He urged national brands to utilise their presence in communities to connect with customers via social media, since such web services are having an increasingly important role to play in the world of commerce.

"Like everything worth doing, there needs to be a well-defined strategy and detailed rules of engagement in order for a local-social programme to accurately build a brand," Mr Stewart explained.

In his opinion, firms should not waste any time taking advantage of this opportunity to get closer to consumers.

Fellow Clickz writer Jonathan Shapiro recently pointed out that social network Facebook has been gaining ground on Google as a portal to other websites and suggested the battle between the two massive companies is likely to be dramatic.