100 million tune into Twitter

19 October 2011

Over one hundred million people a month are actively using Twitter, it was revealed this week. Speaking at an industry conference, Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, confirmed that Twitter has never been busier, with a whopping 250 million tweets posted each day. Approximately 50 million users access their Twitter account on a daily basis, helping to contribute to discussions and debates, as well as circulating news, gossip and trends at a staggering rate.

Costolo also confirmed that Twitter was enjoying commercial success thanks to the promoted tweets feature which was introduced to the social media platform last year. At the time, the decision to introduce a commercial element to the networking site was met with some criticism and concern, however the move appears to have paid off. Twitter continues to enjoy a user growth rate of around 40% from one quarter to the next while balancing the needs and expectations of its corporate partners. The launch of further advertising opportunities is expected over the coming months.

Twitter has gained a lot of traction with organisations and business leaders, many of whom now have their own Twitter page and feed. If you have not yet added Twitter to your marketing mix, here are top tips for beginners:

Twitter is great for brand building. Align your brand to other organisations by following them and contributing to the conversation.
Brevity is key. 140 characters is shorter than you think. Shorten URLs and links through popular sites such as bit.ly and others. Not only will this allow you to say more in your tweet, it will also provide some analysis, enabling you to see what happens to your post in terms of retweets, replies and forwards.
Experiment with timings. If you post news of a fab special offer at 9am and nothing happens, reword and resend your tweet throughout the day to see the impact of timing for your chosen audience. This will help you make the most of your time on Twitter, posting updates and tweets when your target audience is most likely to read and respond.
Make friends. Constantly promoting your own thoughts and activities may get a little irksome for your followers. Make friends, build loyalty and develop opportunities through retweeting messages and celebrating the success of others.
Integrate activities. Rather than change your marketing activities completely, position Twitter as an addition to existing commitments. If you are hosting event, why not write about how it went on your blog and tweet a link? If you are running a promotion, consider how to factor in Twitter to increase your active, target followers, perhaps by incentivising new follwers with an additional offer or discount.