Twitter has succeeded in attracting marketers to the social network, but it still has a lot of work left to appease marketers as it prepares to become a public company.
The majority of large marketers (60%) now use Twitter for various business objectives, putting it ahead of competitors like LinkedIn and YouTube and second only to Facebook, according to a survey of 395 marketers in the United States, the UK and Canada by Forrester Research. Another 18% of marketers say they plan to start using Twitter in the next year.
See also: How Twitter's Business Compares to Facebook's
However, just 55% of those marketers who currently use Twitter say they are satisfied with the service. As you can see in the chart below from Forrester, this puts Twitter below more traditional marketing methods like email and search marketing and below competing social networks like LinkedIn and Google+. On the other hand, it puts Twitter slightly ahead of several Facebook categories.

"While marketers say they get marginally more business value from Twitter than they do from most Facebook marketing tactics, the reality is that both lag far behind established marketing channels in both marketer satisfaction and marketer spending," the researchers wrote in the report. "Twitter needs not only to develop additional marketing opportunities but also to provide tools, best practices, and advice to help marketers get the most out of its platform."
In particular, the report found that many marketers were disappointed with the amount of guidance and education they receive from Twitter on marketing campaigns and the ability (or lack thereof) to confidently measure the success of their marketing strategies on the social network.
Among marketers, the primary objective by far is using Twitter to build brand awareness, and to a lesser degree to increase customer loyalty. With that in mind, Forrester recommends that Twitter needs to focus on helping brands and marketers better cultivate relationships with potential customers.
"Twitter must do more than Facebook does to help marketers reach and activate their existing follower base organically," the researchers write. "Proving the marketing value of the platform will encourage marketers to put more resources into both paid and organic Twitter programs."
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