Published: February 14th, 2018
We’ve all seen the headlines that suggest Twitter is dying but have you ever, even once, avoided the platform due to something you read in the news? Sure, Wall Street has a pretty murky view of Twitter’s stock price right now but that doesn’t stop industries and individuals flocking to the site each and every day…
This was the message of Adel De Meyer, New Media Specialist and Speaker, at Social Media Marketing World 2017. Amongst the hype of Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Snapchat, she was right to turn our focus to the platform that people have come to rely on for real-time discoveries and on-going communications.
With that in mind, today we wanted to celebrate Twitter by highlighting the benefits it poses for businesses and brands and sharing some staggering stats. Prepare to fall in love with Twitter all over again!
Twitter has a strong global audience
Supporting 40 languages and serving over 100 million users on a daily basis, Twitter has a global reach and a very active audience. Even when you scale it down to the UK alone, you’re looking at 32 million user accounts.
This has been steady for three years, and certainly isn’t going to change all that dramatically this year. So, if you’re looking for a way to increase SEO (remember, Tweets are indexed by Google) and engage a wide (or niche) audience, definitely do not stop using Twitter!
Twitter users have more money
Interestingly, Twitter users tend to be educated, meaning that they’re also inclined to make more money. Social Draft recently uncovered statistics that showed 29% of online Americans who have earned a degree use Twitter, as do 30% of online Americans earning $75k+.
The exact same searches are yet to be carried out in the UK, but this study by Rose McGrory reports that: "the more affluent citizens are over-represented on Twitter, with 62% in the 48k+ household income bracket."
Twitter users are always there for you
71% of Twitter users check their account more than once a day. We’re all repeat offenders when it comes to online communication and consumerism – it’s addictive, and this is good news for digital marketers. The more often people are online, the more time you have to reach them.
Make use of trending, or better yet, niche hashtags, and create your own to ensure you’re easy to find… even for non-followers (some people are super savvy, or shall we stay stingy, when it comes to their follower/following count).
Twitter ads have good ROI
Social Draft recently found that 63.5% of Social Media Manager’s surveyed named Twitter as their second best platform to advertise on. When it comes to return on investment, Twitter is proving to be steady and stable. This is because people on Twitter still aren’t viewing ads in a negative way – they actually find it a helpful method to find new businesses!
With more and more people using Twitter as a way to source rich content, shop for products, look for services and connect with likeminded people or public figures, your content can be exposed to a ripe audience at the click of a few buttons, and the bang of a few buck.
Twitter users do a lot of the work for you
Twitter operates in a similar means to word-of-mouth. Users find it an easy way to direct their friends to restaurants, shops and services that they’ve had a good experience with. And we all know that consumers are more likely to convert if a friend has recommended them.
A recent report showcased by Statista showed that 79% of Twitter users re-tweet SMB (small-medium sized businesses), and 38% re-tweet new products or services from SMBs. So, if you’re looking for budget-friendly ways to spread the word, win over your Twitter followers and turn them into brand advocates… they will do a lot of the hard work for you!
Twitter offers real-time customer service
What would you rather – spend a good few minutes searching for a website, locating its contact form and then finally filling it out, wondering when/if you’ll ever hear back OR would you prefer to hop onto Twitter for a real-time response? It really doesn’t require much thought, does it? Twitter is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best way to offer responsive customer service in our digital age.
This means that you’ve got to be on your toes and ready to deal with enquires in a quick manner. You can take the conversation offline, but an initial Tweet back offers reassurance. After all, studies do show that 82% of people who got a quick response shared positive thoughts about the business with their community.
Twitters users typically do what they’re told
Twitter users are used to having to ‘get to the point’ and therefore expect businesses and brands to do the same. Call-to-actions are incredibly effective for this reason – if you ask for a follow, your followers are said to increase by 258% in the timeline and 86% on search.
Website cards are a ridiculously useful, and can increase engagement by up to 43%. Obtaining regular traffic and gaining unique views is vital for ecommerce stores, virtual companies and remote workers, so this is huge news. And just goes to show how accurate Adel De Meyer is in her predictions for the future of Twitter.
Twitter most certainly isn’t the dying bird gasping for air. Despite what else you may hear or read, take it from the industry experts – this platform is the rising phoenix set to ignite the Internet and carve a place in your heart, again.
Are you using Twitter as a way to build contacts and make connections? Tell us what you like about Twitter by tweeting your thoughts to @theathwareing or @thwmarketing! Or, if you need some help figuring out what you should and shouldn’t be doing, get in touch. We’d be happy to give you a more in depth landscape of social media as a whole.
About the author
Teresa Heath-Wareing is a social media and marketing consultant based in Shropshire and is the director of THW. She was also a guest speaker at The Business Event 2017 in Telford, organised by the Marches LEP.
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