The Center for Marketing Research at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth just released an in-depth study of how the fastest growing private companies use Social Media to market their businesses.

Here is a summary of interesting findings from the study:

Over 90% of Inc. 500 companies use social networks for marketing and branding.
75% of all responding Inc. 500 companies classified themselves as “very familiar” with Social Networking. And an incredible 91% of the Inc. 500 is using at least
one social media tool in 2009.

The number of Inc. 500 companies that maintain blogs is quickly rising.
In 2007, only 9% of Inc. 500 companies were blogging. In 2009, that number has skyrocketed to nearly 50% of all Inc. 500 companies.

More than 1/2 of Inc. 500 companies use Twitter for business.
More and more of the world’s faster growing companies use Twitter. 52% of companies surveyed in 2009 reported they currently use Twitter for business.

Blogging and social media have been extremely successful for Inc. 500 businesses.
Nearly 90% of businesses that blog and participate in social networks have found them to be successful. And 82% of people reported that Twitter has been successful for their business.

So what does this all mean for staffing firms and recruiters?
To be blunt start blogging and creating a stronger presence on social networks NOW! The national and regional firms have already started building their online presence. Now, many smaller local and niche firms are beginning to invest in blogging and social media marketing.

You still have a chance to build you online brand and gain a lot of market share. However as the study results show, that window of opportunity is quickly closing as more and more companies are becoming adopters.

For tips on strengthening your online presence and leveraging social networks for your efforts, please review our Social Media and SEO blog for recruiters and staffing firms.