WebTrends: Larger companies yet to embrace Twitter

Sometimes it feels like the Internet has gone Twitter mad and barely a day goes by without a business publication featuring an article on how or why or when or even if the micro-blogging tool should be used for marketing purposes. Companies who are yet to embrace Twitter could be forgiven for thinking they are alone in the corporate universe. They're not.

by Helen Leggatt

Among larger businesses, non-tweeting enterprises are the norm, according to web analytics firm WebTrends. Recent findings from their survey of 250 online marketing managers of large (250+ employees) companies in several countries, including the U.K. and Australia, found that just 2% have used Twitter.

So what's stopping these businesses from jumping on the Twitter bandwagon? A variety of reasons, most stemming from a lack of knowledge about how the environment operates and how their business fits into that space, found WebTrends.

"Many are simply not sure how to use it, and even if they could they wouldn't be sure of what to say, and who exactly they would be saying it to," said Colette Wade, WebTrends' marketing director (EMEA).

While WebTrends' survey found that large businesses aren't jumping head first into micro-blogging, another study found that it does appear to be catching on with small to medium sized businesses (SMB) in the U.K. O2's survey found that 17% are now using Twitter as part of their business communication strategy. Over a quarter (28%) had started their accounts in the last month or so, no doubt as a result of the buzz being generated in the blogosphere.

Tags: blogosphere, marketing strategy, micro-blogging, O2, Twitter, WebTrends