SMEs embrace Twitter |
|
|
| Sales and Marketing | |
| Written by Paul Williams | |
| Tuesday, 17 March 2009 | |
|
O2 research suggests UK small business accounts for 3 million tweets a day. Over 6,000 small businesses across the UK are turning to Twitter every day to cut marketing costs and keep in touch, according to a study conducted by O2. O2 questioned over 500 small businesses and found that 17 per cent are using the free social networking site with 28 per cent signing up in the last four weeks.It is estimated that over 700,000 small businesses are now using Twitter, sending nearly three million messages or “tweets” per day. Cost cutting was cited as one of the greatest benefits of Twitter by 62 per cent of the small businesses questioned. Using Twitter for marketing and to recruit new staff was among the most common ways to reduce overheads, with 16 per cent revealing they estimate to have saved up to £5,000 since signing up to the service. Nearly a third claim to have saved up to £1,000. Elevating business profile and communicating with a wide audience for free were also identified as amongst the most common uses of the social networking site. 74 per cent of those questioned revealed they are using Twitter to market and promote their business, 42 per cent are Tweeting to stay in touch with customers and suppliers. 34 per cent use Twitter to monitor competitor Tweets. In addition to the financial benefits, small businesses also revealed that the site provides a sense of security in the current climate. 28 per cent revealed that the ability to keep in touch with other small businesses in real time had boosted business confidence, with one in ten small businesses having up to 100 other fellow Tweeters. Simon Devonshire, Head of Small Business Marketing at O2 comments: “The way small businesses are using Twitter is a great example of how the community is embracing new technologies in order to adapt and survive in the current economic climate. The increase in small businesses using converged devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones combined with the simplicity of Twitter represents a fantastic opportunity for businesses to further raise their profiles and increase efficiency” Despite its relative infancy the use of Twitter among small businesses has already surpassed the appeal of other digital social media. Four in ten small businesses revealed they are using Twitter more than LinkedIn or Facebook with 60 per cent claiming their usage of the social networking site was likely to increase. Only four per cent indicated they would be cutting back on the amount they used the service. Despite three times more businesses having a blog, nearly seven out of ten (68 per cent) of those questioned admitted to using Twitter more regularly.
Comments (2)
 The power of social networks
Posted by Kasia, 17 March 2009
Twitter, similarily to other social networks, is becoming more and more popular for business use and it's power is still understated. With various uses, like networking, recruitment, research etc. it is also and maybe most importantly making business more personal, by putting real people behind the brand names.
Twitter for SMEs Posted by Karen Purves, 14 April 2009
Great News for twitter and small businesses!
Agree with Kasia that the power of social networks including Twitter are understated by most people using them. This new style of marketing enables even the smallest businesses to establish themselves as market leaders - thought leaders in their market. And the beauty of this is the market can be as large or as small as the business wants it to be! Combine that with virtually free marketing and its a no brainer! Post a comment
|
|
digg 
del.ico.us 
Newsvine 
Reddit 
Furl 
technorati 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
