15 Twitter Facts for 2014 You Need to Know Guest Post by Steven Hughes
The social media network that was never meant to be a social network, Twitter, celebrated its eighth birthday in March, 2014. The now microblogging giant has come a long way since co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, “just setting up my twttr” back on March 21, 2006.
It is now a household name, and the favorite network of celebrities and media outlets.
Twitter has become the fastest way to break news. We are seeing more television programs display their Twitter handles and relative hashtags. The power of Twitter was witnessed by millions when Ellen DeGeneres tweeted “the best photo ever” at this years Oscars that has garnered over 3.4 million retweets and counting.
Twitter went public in November 2013. The much ballyhooed IPO was a big hit as TWTR opened at $26.00 and closed at $44.90 in its first day of trading. Today Twitter trades at $44.60 despite a net loss of $34 million in its most recent quarterly report.
While Twitter has become an incredible brand, it must find a way to show profitability in the future. We don’t want the little blue bird to fly away.
15 Fast Twitter Facts
Here are some Twitter facts and figures that are worth a look.
1. A mind blowing 300 billion tweets have been sent since inception
2. Tweets with image links have 5 times the engagement rate
3. Over 20 million fake Twitter users
4. Over 241 million monthly active Twitter users
5. 184 million monthly active users using mobile
6. The cost of a 24 hour promoted trend runs about $200 thousand
7. China is the country with the most users with over 35 million
8. Katy Perry is the queen of Twitter over 51 million followers surpassing Justin
9, Number of employees at Twitter has increased to 2000+
10. 170 minutes – The average time per month spent by users on Twitter
11. 63% of brands have multiple Twitter accounts
12. YouTube is the most followed brand with over 40 million followers
13. Twitter has a market cap of about 27 billion
14. Average number of followers per twitter user is 208
15. Ellen’s photo of Hollywood stars at Oscars with an incredible 3.4 million retweets
Director of Marketing http://dashburst.com
Twitter in 2014, so far [Infographic]
Highlights:
- Daily engagement decreases as the number of tweets you send goes up
- 20m Twitter accounts are fake users
- Twitter has 241m monthly active users
- Twitter users have an average 208 followers
Twitter Infographic by DashBurst.
How Content Transforms Salespeople [Infographic]
Forget the sleazy salesperson stereotype.
Today’s most successful salespeople act as thought leaders and industry experts, connecting prospects with content. They challenge buyers to be on the cutting-edge of their industries.
But unfortunately, many people still harbor a negative perception of sales reps. So what’s a salesperson to do? Load up on content.
This infographic explains how content helps sales teams build relationships that lead to revenue.
The History of HashTags # [Infographic]
Twitter is largely responsible for turning the hashtag -#- into a household term, and many see the success of hashtags at connecting users based on common themes or discussion topics as one of Twitter’s biggest strengths.
Hootsuite have published a post titled – “Will you miss the hashtag when it’s gone?” – in response to Vivian Schiller, calling hashtags “arcane”. Worth a read.
How often do you use hashtags?
Best Practices for Customer Service on Twitter
Twitter has become the go-to medium for customers looking to provide feedback or solve problems, brands must adapt their Twitter strategy to better serve their customers. Below you will find a check list that best-in-class brands have adopted to better handle customer service requests and maintain positive sentiment about their brand.
1.Dedicated handle
Brands who have adopted dedicated customer service handles have an easier time managing customer service requests for both the dedicated handle and for the brand’s main handle. With a dedicated handle, brands can ensure that customer service requests are being taken care of in a manner consistent with the brand’s overall customer retention strategy. A dedicated customer service handle can help your brand separate a wide range of customer service requests from other types of mentions so you can effectively monitor your social customer service process. In addition, it can be a great way to naturally gain followers. Through proactive monitoring and engagement, you have the ability to build positive sentiment around your brand, which will help increase your audience size and encourage engagement.
2.Dedicate team and the right tools
When a customer service handle isn’t staffed the response time increases dramatically while the response rates decrease. Knowing when most of your customer service requests come in via twitter can help you determine the best time to staff your customer service accounts. There are several great tools that can monitor your most active Tweet times.
3. Canned answers + resources
Having responses on-hand can help reduce your response time and help increase response rate, as your customer service representatives have more sophisticated resources available to resolve issues. In addition, outline where you’ll direct different types of customer service requests, whether you ask for more information from your customers, direct them to email, direct them to a webpage, or solve the issue in a direct message.
4. Rules of engagement and primary handle guidelines
If you’re debating on whether or not to set up a dedicated customer service handle, you’ll want to determine how to handle customer service requests that are directed to the primary handle. You’ll also want to monitor mentions of your brand name in the event that Twitter users aren’t following, or aren’t aware of your brand handles. Effective monitoring can help resolve customer issues before they start – helping to keep sentiments positive around your brand handle. Not only that, let your followers know (daily) when your customer service handle is staffed. This will help to reduce posts when that handle is not staffed and or set expectations of response time
5. Promoting your handle
When you’re setting up a dedicated customer service handle, consider where you’ll promote the handle – for example, you may want to link your handle via your customer support page, so that users have a range of options to contact your customer service representatives. You may want to also find a way to link your main handle to your customer service handle (for example, in your brand bio) so that users who visit your profile are aware that you’ve got a dedicated customer service handle.
6. Reducing your response time
This is one way of letting your followers know that they are important to your business. In addition, it’s a proactive way to address negative word of mouth that may affect the sentiment generated around your brand.
7. Responding to as many mentions as possible
Responding to a majority of requests is a great way to keep your followers happy, and engaged. If your brand responds to as many mentions as possible, your users are more likely to mention your brand handle more often, which means your handle has the potential to reach followers who may be outside your reach.
CONCLUSION:
Understanding the rules of engagement for customer service on Twitter is a crucial step to managing your overall customer service strategy. As more and more users turn to Twitter to ask questions, give feedback, praise or complain about a brand, brands need to be proactive in managing their brand image – by showing customers that they’re listening, and that they care. Since Twitter is a word-of-mouth platform, these steps are essential for any company looking to increase their business in the digital world.
Guide to Twitter inspired by Dr. Seuss
Who doesn’t love Dr. Suess! Well if you don’t – ah well, there’s other posts you can read here!
Dr. Seuss, the writer and illustrator behind children’s classics The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Lorax, would have turned 110 on March 2nd. If he were alive today, he would have been a social media master. So to honor his wit and wisdom, here’s an interpretation of the Seuss guide to Twitter from Hootsuite
The Evolution of SXSW
If anyone has room for me in their luggage let me know……
Tech geeks, film fanatics, and music lovers UNITE! It’s that time of year again when we all descend en masse to Austin, TX for ten days of panels, screenings, and parties. That’s right. We’re talking about the one and only, SXSW. What started out as an alternative music festival in 1987 has transformed into a breeding ground for new technologies and creative ideas.
Are You Ready For Social Selling?
What is social selling:
Social Selling is the process of finding and connecting potential leads and prospects via social media to increase sales.
The Aberdeen Group define social selling as the utilisation into one of three techniques. These three techniques include Social Collaboration, External Listening and External Participation.
There are many studies available that demonstrate why you need to evolve your traditional methods to involve social media, none more important than this. On average – 60% of the purchasing decision has already been made, prior to a sales person being invited to the discussion.
Someone is educating and providing insight to your clients – is it you or your competition?
You want more? Ok…
Seventy Two percent of sales people who use social media outperform those sellers who are not using social media
Thirty Six percent of companies who have a social selling team are more likely to achieve quota.
To get started on your Social Selling journey – here is a great Infographic to start you off for LinkedIn
So, are you ready for Social Selling. Why not try these additional resources : 10 Steps for a Rocking Profile
Digital Trends for B2B and B2C Marketers in 2014 [Infographic]
What are the most exciting opportunities for digital marketers this year and where should they focus? Content marketing, customer experience and mobile dominate. Check out the results from Econsultancy and Adobe’s 2014 Digital Trends Briefing.
Content, Customer Experience and Mobile dominate
Does this inforgraphic represent your priorities? What would you add? Join the conversation and say “Hi” in the comments below