More than 700,000 small and medium businesses are using
theTwitter social networkto save on
marketing and recruitment costs, anO2survey says.
After asking more than 500 companies with fewer than 20 staff,
O2 estimates 17% of the UK's 4.6 million SMEs are using the free
social networking site to send three million "tweets" or messages a
day. Over one quarter (28%) signed up in the last four weeks.
O2 estimated Twitter users were saving up to £5,000 on marketing
and recruitment costs. Cost saving was mentioned by 62% of
respondents as the main benefit, the firm said. More than one in
ten (16%) said they had saved up to £5,000 since signing up to the
service. Nearly a third have saved up to £1,000.
Other common uses includes raising their business profile and
communicating with a wide audience for free. Nearly three quarters
said they were using Twitter to market and promote their
businesses. Nearly half (42%) used the network to stay in touch
with customers and suppliers. One in three (34%) used Twitter to
monitor their competitors.
Over a quarter (28%) said the ability to keep in touch with
other small businesses in real time had boosted business
confidence. One in ten had up to 100 other fellow Tweeters.
Simon Devonshire, head of small business marketing at O2, said
Twitter showed how SMEs were embracing technologies to adapt and
survive.
He said SMEs were using converged devices such as the iPhone and
BlackBerry smartphones with Twitter. This meant Twitter was
outstripping other digital networking activity, he said. Four in 10
SMEs were using Twitter more than
LinkedIn or
Facebook, and 60% said their
usage was likely to increase. Nearly seven out of ten (68%) said
they used Twitter more regularly than their blogs.