Some Twitter truths

Monday, 29 Jul, 2009 0

Just got your act together with Twitter and feeling pleased with yourself? Well, the bad news is that new research carried out by a social media specialist company finds almost one third of brands on the micro-blogging site are completely ignored.

How does it know this? Because you can tell if your Twitter followers are engaging with your tweets by how much they forward them on to their own network of Twitter users, or “retweet” as it is called.

The social media and online PR specialist Immediate Future looked at the Twitter behaviour of 140 global and UK brands and analysed how they used the channel to communicate with “fans”, or followers.

A third of those brands’ tweets received no tweets at all, meaning their tweets were as good as totally ignored.

Managing director of Immediate Future Katy Howell said: “When marketers talk about Twitter, the focus is too often simply on the number of followers. This doesn’t give you a realistic picture of how well the organisation is engaging with its audience, since it can be quite easy to drum up a large number of followers, even if most of them aren’t that interested in what the brand has to say.

“But by examining how often its posts are retweeted we can get a much better idea of how interested people are in engaging with a brand. In effect, the more a brand is retweeted, the more it has the attention of its audience.”

The research indicated that many brands are following quite high numbers of Twitter users compared to the number of users who are actually following them back. This is seen as spammy behaviour.

Howell added: “The problem is that many brands view Twitter as a broadcast channel and they measure their success on the size of their audience, rather than the level of engagement they have with their followers. The best brands attract followers by having something interesting to say and engaging their audience in a genuine conversation.

Organisations which think it’s good enough to build up a large number of Twitter followers and broadcast the same old tired corporate messaging at them are not only missing the point, but also the opportunity.”

A full copy of the Truth about Twitter report can be downloaded at: http://www.immediatefuture.co.uk/the-truth-about-twitter/

By Dinah Hatch

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Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

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