Twitter has long been a favourite for marketers and PR companies looking to raise brand awareness, drive website footfall and boost sales of their favourite clients, but a recent study has revealed that there is a clear disconnect between what consumers want, and what marketers think they want, from social media, and this includes the channels where you will find them.

The Pitney Bowes Software study revealed that some 57 percent of marketing decision-makers use Twitter compared with just 31 percent of internet users worldwide.

LinkedIn is also overused by marketers, with 50 percent prominent on the business social network despite less than one in five (19 percent) of internet users being found on that channel.

Conversely, 53 percent of internet users are active on YouTube, which is favoured by just 41 percent of marketers. Even Facebook is relatively underused – despite a 93 percent global penetration rate amongst prospective customers, “only” 84 percent of marketers use Mark Zuckerberg’s platform.

(Source: eMarketer.)