Twitter embraced as a business and marketing tool

 
Do you feel that technology is moving too fast and that you are struggling to keep up with all the trends in Social Media Marketing, never mind move ahead of them?  Well, you are not alone.  New research by CNBC shows that nearly half of European business leaders fear being out of step with the rapid pace of technology change.*

  • Forty-five % of European business leaders are not confident they are keeping up with the rate of technology change in their respective industries, a slip in confidence of 15% from 2010.
  • The survey also showed that the use of Twitter as a business and marketing tool has seen a rapid increase amongst users, almost doubling in use to 61% up from 31% a year ago.  The growing impact of social networking is reflected by 61% believing it has changed the way business is done, up from only a quarter in 2010.
  • More executives are now using Twitter; up from 30% to 38% over the past year.
  • Average number of followers has increased from 99 in 2010, to 167 in 2011 (+69%).

How do you keep up with the changing Social Media Market?

  • Make sure that your Social Media Manager is well trained and has the time to keep up with all the latest trends. Have regular meetings with them and encourage them to share what they like and don’t like about all the latest technologies and how they see them developing. Don’t dismiss Twitter or Social Media as a “black art” and leave it to other people to understand.  You wouldn’t do that with your Sales Department and shouldn’t do it with Social Media. Consider something like our online social media training that you can do in your own time and in your own office.
  • Outsource your Social Media to a specialist company. Make sure they know the direction that you want to go in and keep them informed. Make sure that they keep you informed too with regular feedback.
  • Don’t be afraid to drive change in the way that your company uses Social Media. Check out different accounts and how they use Twitter – it doesn’t have to be constant tweeting about your business or links to your products. Betfair Poker, Waterstones Oxford Street and OK! Magazine all use twitter in original and different ways to drive traffic to their sites and build relationships.

*The findings are part of CNBC’s ‘Europe’s Mobile Elite 2011’ survey which polled a sample of European business leaders to better understand how they use technology and social media platforms in their work and social lives