Nearly one in five SMBs use Twitter for local marketing efforts
March 7, 2011 – Twitter usage has been growing quickly among small and medium-sized businesses, according to a report on small local firms.
The �Local Commerce Monitor-Wave 14� from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat found that Twitter usage by SMBs more than doubled between Q3 2009 and Q4 2010, to 19% of respondents. Over the same period, usage of traditional print yellow pages remained unchanged.
Twitter was still behind many other social media tactics, with nearly half (48%) of respondents using Facebook for marketing and a quarter using some other social network.
More than a third of SMB respondents had increased their use of links and ads on social media sites over the past year, and 46% planned further increases in the next 12 months. Customer ratings and reviews were another social tool with significant planned increases.
The report also found that younger businesses were most active in social media�and least active in traditional media. In the Q3 2009 study, businesses less than 7 years old were more likely than average to use Twitter, but less likely to advertise in print yellow pages. By Q4 2010, Twitter usage had increased across the board, though penetration was still below average for older businesses.
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