There’s a great Business Zone blog by Michelle Carvill that highlights some interesting facts – ignore at your business peril!
Key takeaways -
Over the last 5 years -
- There are 200,000,000 registered Twitter users
- Almost 88% of people have awareness of Twitter and its existence
- There are 450,000 new Twitter accounts created everyday
- Meaning there are 5.2 accounts created every second of everyday
So we can longer claim that’s it unknown – there is a huge audience out there, right at your fingertips. That is a lot of people in a short space of time that have been convinced by its power.
- There are one billion tweets posted every week
- 180,000,000 everyday
- 138,888 every minute
- Over 1,650 every second
- Just 5% of users create 75% of the content tweeted
- There are 1.6 billion search queries everyday
- Meaning that there are 18,000 search queries every second
Still worried that you’re too old to be using it or that your brand or company is the wrong sort to be using twitter? Take a look at the numbers then…
- 46% of users are female
- 54% are male – very equal demographics
- 53% don’t have children
- 47% do have children – time doesn’t seem to be an issue
- The majorty of users are aged between 30 and 49 - perfect age group
- 43% of people follow a brand for special deals/offers
- 75% of users are more likely to purchase from a brand they follow – good headstart
- 67% of users are likely to recommend a brand they follow to other users
Ok….but maybe you’re still worried about the freedom of speech that users have. The fact that anyone can write anything about you, your brand, your services or your skills… They are anyway – whether you engage or not!
1,000,000 people view tweets about customer service each week
- 80% of those tweets are negative and critical
- As much as 75% of traffic comes from sources outside Twitter
We’ll let you in on a secret – whether you have an account or not people can write whatever they want, whenever they want – they will get heard and it will get commented on and it will get passed on. Surely it’s better to be listening in on those criticisms, dealing with them and changing things for the better. Let people know you’re listening.
Maybe you don’t have a brand or a company or even a job – we’ve got a stat that should get you tweeting nonetheless
- Up to 85% of companies are using social media as part of their recruitment
Or maybe you don’t have the time to be on twitter in the middle of the day and therefore think you would miss out on most activity anyway….
- 5pm is the best time to be retweeted
Hello Tracy. The stat I found interesting in this post is that 5% of the users create 75 of the content Tweeted. Makes you think who’s carrying the movement.
I appreciated your breakdown of the demographics, it’s very helpful. And, 85%, wow. Now I know where to look fro staff.
I like that one too Patricia – it really would suggest that a relatively small group are “dictating” content on Twitter – and the rest are drifting along just enjoying the ride
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Excellent overview of the huge scale of Twitter, and the swift and impressive growth. But, beyond the numbers, from a business point of view, what is needed are some genuine case studies of great campaigns that have driven value and ROI via Twitter. Tracy, perhaps a future blog could look at some of these? In the rush to understand and be part of ‘new’ social platforms such as Twitter, I think many Marketers have been blinded by the shiny newness, without fully applying the same classic marketing measures that they would to any other channel that they spend money on. There’s a lot of fudged thinking and action from businesses about Twitter (and other social networks), and the more Saucy Horse and its ilk can do to steer a path through the jungle, the better. Keep it up.
Clearly you are right, Richard. There are some excellent examples of businesses doing it right and reaping the benefits – and also of doing it wrong (and seeing the corresponding downside). ROI is a whole prickly subject and we’ve written on this before – it’s all about understanding how social media usage is creating multiple touch points and how that can be measured against whatever relevant metrics have been set. Joe Tripodi, Chief Marketing Officer at Coca-Cola, has some interesting opinions based on how he believes that Coca Cola need to “…be a facilitator who manages communities, not a director who tries to control them.” You can look at the Coca Cola blog here http://www.saucyhorsesocialmedia.co.uk/2011/07/social-media-roi-and-other-things-how-coca-cola-are-getting-it-right/ and I think you’re right – we will revisit case studies regularly as it brings into sharp relief what works and why. Thanks Richard!
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