Column: The growing power of Twitter

According to Twitter, there are 200 million active Twitter users posting an average of 400 million tweets daily. These numbers have increasingly enabled Twitter to promote itself as a brand marketing platform ”“ complete with advertising ”“ for companies of all sizes. It also explains why the Twitter website contains the findings of a Compete study depicting the top reasons why people follow brands on Twitter. Interestingly, three of the four top reasons (discounts and promos ”“ 94 percent; free stuff ”“ 88 percent; and updates on upcoming sales ”“ 79 percent) are primarily related to product prices. Close behind in fifth place at 79 percent is access to exclusive content.

Twitter has been responsible for a sizeable percentage of the increase in social media use in the past year. With social media usage rising from 67 percent to 72 percent this past year and the concurrent growth of numerous social media platforms, the overall growth of Twitter to 18 percent of all Internet users is significant. In 2010, it was 8 percent. Unlike many social media sites, there is little gender difference on Twitter. Age demographics were also equally divided between 18-29 and 30-64 year olds with the most rapid increase in usage being in the 30-49 age group.

In short:

Ӣ Twitter is still growing and increasingly reaching a audience that transcends age demographics.

Ӣ It is rapidly striving to become a branding platform.

Ӣ Business users are increasingly using it for best pricing announcements and exclusive content.

How can Twitter and this information aid your marketing campaign?

Foremost, Twitter can help keep you in front of your audience. By posting quality tweets and retweets, you can keep your followers interested while regularly directing them to your blog, website or event. (A note of warning: keep your total percentage of retweets well below 20 percent of all your tweets. Not only are retweets less effective than original tweets but overdoing them often has negative consequences including the loss of both followers and credibility.)

Here”™s a simple, but highly effective, question we ask our clients to consider when tweeting and retweeting: Do your followers care?

Second, since 36 percent of Twitter users follow between six and 20 brands ”“ it”™s the largest group ”“ and 33 percent follow fewer than six brands, if you can properly target your campaign directly toward your followers”™ needs, why can”™t your brand be one of the ones they also follow? Followers are over 33 percent more likely to visit the website, recommend or to purchase those brands they actively follow.

To increase your number of followers, you must also ensure your company”™s communications and policies are both internally and externally consistent. Many campaigns have been undermined by inconsistent postings and content. This is important for any brand management campaign and one that becomes critical when taking into consideration the speed of social media and online communications in which one bad post can elicit an avalanche of negative reactions.

Monitoring conversations concerning your brand and industry, including hashtags and keywords will also help define the content and scope of your internal communications and the parameters of your branding strategy.

Finally, engage your audience. Tweets that resonate or are interesting and unique will get the best response. Exclusive access to a video of a new product or even pictures of some of your employees (assuming they are appealing) can be highly effective strategies ”“ and ones that we have used. Remember, the more authentic your voice, the better the engagement.

In summary, the growth and evolution of Twitter has resulted in a platform that can strengthen your brand while generating new followers and business. If relevant, you should seriously consider including it as a part of your marketing strategy.

Bruce Newman is the president of wwWebevents.com, a division of The Productivity Institute L.L.C., and the creator of The Complete Webinar Training Course, an online course that helps companies create and promote highly successful webinars. He can be reached at bnewman@prodinst.com.