The vast majority of the web's most successful vendors are active on social media, and those lagging in adopt may struggle to compete.

A report from Campalyst found that the most successful ecommerce companies are boosting their success with social media marketing campaigns that favor a multi-platform approach. By maintaining presences on different social networks, businesses have found they can target segments of their audiences most active on these platforms.

According to the study, 97 percent of the top 250 vendors on the web maintain Facebook accounts, generating Likes from their fans. Twitter has attracted 96 percent of these top vendors that say they use the site to engage consumers.

Video marketing is becoming more popular as well, with 90 percent of top vendors creating content to share on the web’s most frequently visited video platform.

Even networks with less established presences have attracted some of the most successful companies, with 67 percent using Google+ and 61 percent on Pinterest.

Social media marketing has shifted in the last few years from a nice addition to marketing campaigns to a competitive necessity. With so many successful companies using social media to engage their audiences, any organization still hesitant to do so has already fallen behind.

As more consumers grow comfortable with social media, its influence on their shopping habits is growing in kind. Brafton recently reported that 78 percent of consumers claim Tweets and other posts on social networks have as much of an impact on their purchase decisions as advice from friends, family or other contacts.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.