Boston—Social networking is a key channel for customers to keep track of their favorite companies, and is pushing those companies to get active in social media marketing, according to a new study from market research company Invoke Solutions.

The study showed that 65% of social media users follow a company or brand on Facebook, and 47% had posted a comment on a company Facebook page. More than 31% of social networkers follow a brand or company's tweets, according to Invoke.

However, those who follow companies on Twitter were more active in leveraging a wide variety of social media outlets to engage with their favorite brands, the study found: 68% comment on a company's page, 47% post comments on their own Facebook page and 25% tweet and blog about brands.

Invoke's study was based on feedback from its Invoke Live online webinars, this particular one with a panel of 300 social media users during a June session.