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Twitter to Move into Business Mainstream »
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Twitter to Move into Business Mainstream
More than eight in 10 Twitter users, most of whom represent small businesses, expect their company’s use of the popular microblogging tool to increase in the next six months, according to a recent, informal survey from MarketingProfs.
The survey revealed that Twitter is rapidly gaining acceptance among users as an important social media business tool. Not only do 84% of respondents say their company’s use of Twitter will increase, 46% say it will do so by a “significant” margin.
Currently, 66% of respondents consider Twitter either “somewhat important” or “extremely important” to their company’s business/marketing operations, compared with 29% who consider it “not very important.”
Delivering Value to Companies
Meanwhile, Twitter users say the microblogging tool now ranks second only to company blogs as a valuable social-media business tool, MarketingProfs said.
On a five-point scale, 41% of survey respondents say Twitter delivers “great value” to their company, ranking well ahead of LinkedIn (25%) and Facebook (17%). Corporate blogs rank at the top of the list with 52% saying the medium delivers great value.
“This data shows that Twitter users, typically early adopters, no longer think of Twitter as just a personal networking tool, but as something that can provide real value for their company or business,” said Ann Handley, chief content officer for MarketingProfs. “Much like Facebook, Twitter is now moving into the business mainstream.”
Additional Twitter research from MarketingProfs revealed that Twitter users are primarily motivated by the learning and immediacy components of the application.
About the survey: The informal survey of Twitter users was conducted between April 11-14, 2009. It included a total of 213 completed responses, 66% of which were filled out by people with fewer than 50 people in their company. The rest of the breakdown: 101-1000 employees - 14.6%; 1000+ employees - 11.3%; 51-100 employees - 8%. The survey results (pdf) are part of a new MarketingProfs case study collection available to MarketingProfs premium members.
