Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Is Twitter A Waste Of Time?


"That question was posed to us yesterday by a client and  it’s a very good one. Our answer, of course, was “no,” and to bolster our  argument, we Googled “Is Twitter a waste of time?” Results on page #1 included  sources like the venerable Forbes and Pew Research, both of whom answered the  question with a resounding “no.”
There’s a caveat here: Twitter is not a waste of time if you’re using  it correctly. In fact, it’s of critical importance if you’re using it  to engage prospects and point them to your content. If you’re  using it to talk about your caffeine craving or cute things your kid did, that’s  another story.
Here are some other valuable uses for this social network:
Twitter For Monitoring
When clients show reluctance to use Twitter to promote their business and  website, we remind them that there are very likely others out there on the  network talking about their product or service. You want to be in on those  conversations! It’s essential to share your brand message and monitor/engage in  conversations where your brand is mentioned – good or bad. By monitoring online  conversations, potential unhappy customer rants can be blunted and even turned  around. Because Twitter and other social media allow nearly real-time  communication with customers and prospects, it can be an invaluable tool for  Sales and for Customer Service.
Twitter For The Press
For businesses that include PR and editorial coverage in their overall  marketing strategy, Twitter is an important outlet to consider. Pew Research was  recently quoted as saying, “If searching for news was the most important  development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important of  the next.” Most of our media contacts – for both trade and consumer media – actively use Twitter for story ideas and fact-gathering.
Here are a few Twitter facts that may surprise you:
User Demographics & Behavior
  • Twitter has 517 million users worldwide; 141.8 million are  in the US
  • More than half of active Twitter users follow companies,  brands or products
  • 83% of Twitter users use it to learn about or provide an  opinion about products/services
  • 79% of US Twitter users are more likely to recommend brands  they follow with 67% more likely to buy those brands
  • 63% of Twitter users tweet at least once a week with nearly  20% tweeting more than once a day
  • 64% of Twitter users are 25-54, 33% are  25-34
  • 64% of Twitter users have a college degree or  higher
B2B Marketing Impact
  • Companies using Twitter average 2x more leads/mo than those that don’t
  • 63% of marketers say Twitter is useful, important or critical to their  business
  • 75% of B2B companies are likely to use Twitter (compared to 49% of  B2C)
If you’re new to Twitter or could use some help getting the most out of this  powerful tool, download our new"



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