When people begin developing a social media plan for their business they tend to start by focusing on Facebook. And who can blame them? Facebook has more than 1.317 billion users, (not to mention a movie starring Jesse Eisenberg). Today however I’m going to discuss why it’s not all about Facebook. Check out these statistics that help tell the story of Twitter and why this platform is so valuable to businesses of any size. The real influencers of the world focus their time on Twitter.

40% of Twitter Users Have Earned Their Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

Whether your business is looking for potential employees, clients, or industry experts there is a good chance these people need to be highly educated. Twitter just so happens to be full of movers and shakers with influence, and diplomas. A lot of important business changing information is first revealed on Twitter by people like Mark Cuban, Tim Cook and Elon Musk. And using hashtags to find people interested in industry specific subject matter can be a great way to connect with your target market.

80% of the World’s Leaders are on Twitter

If knowing what the world’s most powerful people are thinking is important to you (and trust me it is), then you really should be on Twitter. You never know what nation’s president will post about something relevant to your business or the economy as a whole.

Twitter is Home to the hashtag and a Ton of Giveaways

Twitter first began the recent trend of using the hashtag as a form of organizing posts by topic in social media. They made it super easy for a topic, social cause, or business to go viral. So next time you want to spread awareness about your product, consider what keywords may be popular in your industry, throw a # before them, and thank Twitter for giving you this gift. Twitter is also a great place to win money or prizes. Earlier this year Esurance gave away $1.5 million as part of their Super Bowl ad campaign. One lucky winner struck it rich and all they had to do was tweet #esurancesave30. This adds to the user experience and helps ensure that Twitter maintains its active users. Without active users any social media platform would be pointless.

So next time you hear someone talking about the power of social media and how Facebook is great for businesses, suggest that they consider Twitter as well and point them to this blog. Twitter may have a smaller user base, but it brings a lot to the table and can really benefit a brand’s social media marketing plan.