How is your business using Twitter? Most are using it simply to increase brand awareness, according to a recent survey from Social Media Marketing University. Of those polled, 79.4% said they are using it for that purpose.

58% said they’re using Twitter to drive traffic, while 55% said to engage existing customers, 51.9% to find new leads and customers, 42% to improve brand image, 39.7% to increase customer loyalty, and 24.4% to drive sales.

It will be interesting to see if the percentage of those using Twitter to drive sales increases as Twitter gets deeper into e-commerce.

According to the survey, nearly 65% think Twitter is an effective marketing tool for business, but only 4.5% disagree, leaving the rest as undecided. Eight years into Twitter, businesses are still trying to figure out how to best use it. At least they’re not changing the game as much as Facebook. Not yet anyway.

Brands told Social Media Marketing University that measuring ROI and results is the to challenge of using Twitter as a marketing tool. Building an audience is right behind that in the challenges department, followed by engagement, developing strong content and learning how to use the platform. The rules on that one might even be changing soon.

Most brands haven’t used Twitter’s paid services (no surprise there really), the survey finds. What is somewhat surprising is that some of the brands polled (16.9%) weren’t even aware that Twitter had paid services available.

While most brands (88.7%) are taking advantage of hashtags, only 2.4% are utilizing Twitter’s Vine despite its significant popularity. 64% are utilizing images on Twitter, while 23.4% are utilizing lists.

62.4% of brands are using Twitter to create engagement during events, and the same amount are using it to build relationships with influencers. 58.4% are using it to monitor mentions of their brand, while 56% are using it to position their brand as an industry authority. 40% are using it to research their target audience, 31.2% are using it for customer service, 28% are using it to offers discounts and promotions, and 13.6% are using it for fundraising.

Most brands, the survey finds, tweet between one and five times a day. Only 4% tweet more than ten times a day. While Twitter just celebrated its 8th birthday, most brands have only had a Twitter presence for two or three years.

[via MarketingCharts]

Image via Social Media Marketing University