CorpComms Magazine

Technology marketing professionals are torn over whether Twitter is a valuable tool for tracking and generating interest in a company or service or a fad that serves as a potentially damaging distraction in the professional world, according to a survey by PR consultancy, Johnson King.

Business users tend to come down very heavily on one side of the fence or the other. Almost half of business to business marketers believe Twitter will become an integral part of all company communications strategies in the future. Many wax lyrical about the benefits of the service for tracking popularity trends, communicating with customers and publicising new developments.

Others fear concentrating on the vocal tweeting minority may prevent businesses from engaging with their broader client base. One respondent noted: 'Twitter gives the illusion of customer and market research and companies that put a lot of stock in the comments of Twitter users will ultimately lead to poorer quality products for the majority of customers with differing requirements.' Almost a quarter of those surveyed expect the site to disappear as soon as it becomes saturated as a marketing tool.

Laura Mead, account director at Johnson King, says: 'It seems that when it comes to Twitter, people really do either love it or hate it. The mixed feedback could be a result of the tool's relative infancy, with some yet to discover its relevance for their particular organisation.'

Mead also noted that Twitter's advocates and enemies may be confirmed by the quality of their reception on the site. 'If your marketing efforts have been enhanced by an onslaught of complimentary tweets then you are likely to view things rather differently to someone whose brand image has been damaged by the same medium.'

In either case, she expressed concern that 57 per cent of marketing professionals employing Twitter have no corporate guidelines in place governing its use. 

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