Small Business Marketing News

Fortune 100 Companies Use Social Media For Marketing

Written by Jenna Weiner
Published: 8/7/2009

Twitter and other social media strategies have recently captured the attention of the Fortune 100 companies, who are increasingly using the technology for marketing.

Social networking, no longer confined to friends and colleagues, has become an important marketing tool for businesses of all sizes, according to a new >survey by Burson-Marsteller and Proof Digital Media.

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The survey found that the largest 100 companies in terms of revenue on the Fortune 500 list were active on social media networks - specifically on Twitter and Facebook, and in blogs.

Twitter was found to be the social network of choice, with 54 percent of Fortune 100 companies using the technology. Blogs came in second at 32 percent, followed by Facebook fan pages at 29 percent.

In addition, for respondents that were only using one social media platform, Twitter was overwhelmingly their choice - 76 percent chose Twitter over Facebook or blogs.

The majority of "tweets" from Fortune 100 accounts were informative, as 94 percent of companies used the technology for news announcements and updates. In addition, 67 percent of respondents use Twitter in a customer service capacity.

Although Twitter and other social media sites may seem overexposed, considering how much they have been flooding the news, for small businesses the trend may be a worthwhile investment. A recent study from Experian Simmons found that social media is the fastest growing new medium, with 54 percent of online adults visiting a social networking site in the past month - marking a 270 percent increase over the fall 2007 level.

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