The Numbers that Make Twitter Awesome

Once a week, we take a social media platform and examine its numbers. As many people know, I love Twitter. So today I will evangelize about its awesomeness. Of all the numbers that I will take you through, let me tell one – 1,200%. That is the ROI that I achieved with Twitter for a single client. In one month of Twitter monitoring, we were able to find enough business to achieve that amazing return. Are you convinced yet? If not, here are some other cool numbers about my social media “bestie.”

When you ask for the total number of registered users on Twitter, you get a very tentative response of “about a billion.” The more important number is the number of account that actively use Twitter each month. The number is 241 million, as of February 2014. Roughly 100 million users, access Twitter every day! 29% of users say they check their Twitter account multiple times each day. Since its launch in March of 2006, more than 300 billion tweets have been sent out. About 36 million people user Twitter.com each month and 184 million user the mobile app. I number that I was unable to find was how many people access their accounts through 3rd part apps, like HootSuite, TweetDeck, etc. because that would definitely be interesting.

What’s your number?  The average number of followers per user is 208. Mine is 21,024 which is a whole bunch. I think that is because I am in the social media industry and that is one that is especially well-aligned with the Twitter population.  If you look at who is on Twitter, it is definitely very popular with millennials (ages 15-34). In this demographic, 29% say they user Twitter. Teens love Twitter and if you are trying to reach them, it has to be a major part of your strategy. 26% of teens say they consider Twitter their favorite social platform.

Is Twitter effective for businesses? Absolutely. 47% of people who follow a brand on Twitter are more likely to visit that company’s website. 30% of people are more likely to recommend a small or medium sized business after they have followed or engaged with the company on Twitter. 85% of Twitter users feel “more connected” with a small or medium sized business after following them on Twitter. So these are a bunch numbers that say engagement with customers or prospects on Twitter helps your relationship with them.

Finally, some quick numbers to help you when you use Twitter. Use pictures. There is generally a 5x increase in engagement when you do so. The most popular time of the day for retweets is 9-10pm CST – which is interesting. The most popular day for retweets is Sunday. I included these stats because many companies feel like they only tweet during business hours. That’s not a great strategy.

I think Twitter is very underutilized by the average business. There are plenty of businesses that are using it effectively, but the average company doesn’t and that is a shame. There is a lot of potential here. If you are on Twitter, send me a tweet at @BoxlessMedia, let me know what you think. If not, consider trying it out. Sign up, then tweet me.