Social media has become a critically important channel for customer service and feedback, so companies that ignore it do so at their peril.

Surprisingly, a recent survey by Zeno Group found that a large number of companies are ignoring social media despite the risk to their reputation and sales. And the problem is even worse at smaller companies.

According to the communications firm’s research, 71% of executives at larger companies say their CEO considers their company’s social media reputation at least some of the time when conducting business, compared to just 55% of executives at smaller organizations. And 45% of execs at smaller organizations say social media is rarely if ever considered in decision-making, compared to 29% of larger firms.

In general, more than 10% of organizations won’t take action to address a damaging article or social-media post despite the risk in letting negative comments go unanswered. Consumer-facing companies are quicker to respond to social media crises than business-to-business companies, but both have significant room for improvement.

Mark Shadle, managing director of Zeno corporate affairs, says businesses that ignore social media “risk serious reputational damage as well as miss out on important stakeholder feedback.”

So make sure you have at least some presence on social media, and monitor and respond to what customers and competitors have to say about you. Your reputation depends on it, and you just might gain some important business insight in the process.

Adapted from Some CEOs Disregard Social-Media Reputation by Dennis McCafferty at CIO Insight.