The latest research report from Business.com shows that small business owners are still trying to figure out Twitter … but those who have mastered it are seeing an advantage.

The expansive report covering 1,711 small business decision makers showed that of all the social media channels, Twitter was the least-used. Just 27 percent of the respondents were active on the micro-blogging site.

But even that figure may be deceptively high – the survey sample was of business leaders already using some form of the social web.  Translation: This is why you are still getting blank stares when you talk to most small business decision makers about Twitter.

Although Twitter fell to the bottom of the list of most-used social media resources for business, those actively using Twitter are very positive about the business value. In fact, Twitter topped the write-in list with small business decision makers praising the ability to get quick feedback and access relevant business information. One typical quote:

“On Twitter, the people I follow provide me with more relevant links and information than any other tool. It saves me time and helps me learn about new technologies or innovative ideas, as they are happening.”

As we have come to expect, the Business.com research is thorough and fascinating, with detailed data segmented by industry, job type and company size. Study participants in the healthcare, retail and legal industries use significantly fewer social media sites/resources for business information.

Based on the findings, companies interested in using social media to engage small business customers and prospects would be wise to:

• Develop educational webinars and/or podcasts which address specific small business needs in the process of introducing company products or services. Businesses value convenience and speed in their information sources.
• Encourage, and carefully tend, online reviews of company products or services.
• Establish a presence on one or more major social networking sites and use this as a hub for corporate social media initiatives.
• Participate in more focused online discussions where it is easy to find and respond to questions specifically related to company products or services – such answering questions on Q&A sites like LinkedIn Answers or Business.com Answers, or in online business forums – rather than trying to work a promotional mention into discussions on 3rd party web sites and blogs.
• Further investigate how their target audience is using Twitter for business today and begin developing a Twitter strategy.

Source: Engaging Small Business Decision Makers through Social Media: A 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study Report. Business.com, December 7, 2009, http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-business-through-social-media.

8 Comments

• 

  By Carla Bobka, December 10, 2009 @ 8:03 am

  Thanks for keeping us up to date on the small biz market segment. Niche Magazine’s Winter issue (Dec release) is focusing on social media in the small biz setting. Their target market is ind. retailers and galleries. It will be interesting to balance the report you mention off their recommendations. Twitter is so simple an application that the steep learning curve strikes people as perplexing. It is actually a great lesson in failure–they are not all catastrophic. Like skinning your knee and realizing it won’t kill you. No one expects anyone’s first 2-6 months on Twitter to be elegant.
• 

  By Mark, December 10, 2009 @ 10:38 am

  Thanks for passing along the great resource, Carla.
• 

  By Steve Dodd, December 10, 2009 @ 2:47 pm

  It would have been interesting to get a sense of the number of interviews they did in total to see a random % of smb social media users.
  But, what this does say is that for those who do use it, they are getting significant value. The one I really liked was the 63% that do product research through reviews and other user generated content. That really provides additional evidence from another perspective that people use social media to assist with purchasing decisions.
• 

  By Julie Weishaar, January 4, 2010 @ 11:54 pm

  Thanks for the great tips for small businesses.
• 

  By Daksh, March 11, 2010 @ 8:56 pm

  Interesting thoughts Mark. I think participation in forums liked Linkedin groups has its own significance because sometimes the value that you drive from those discussions cannot be matched by other social networking sites and micro-blogs. The thing that I really like about Linkedin is that it is to the point, crisp and focused.
• 

  By Mark Burgess, March 11, 2010 @ 9:04 pm

  My feeling, the learning curve for SMBs is steep plus already crazed about keeping afloat. Need to stop, reprioritize and learn the tool to gain efficiencies.
• 

  By Mark, March 11, 2010 @ 10:01 pm

  Thank you for your comments.

Other Links to this Post

1. Social Media and Internet Marketing for Creative People » Blog Archive » Research shows small business owners struggle with Twitter — January 3, 2010 @ 7:32 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment