How to Use Twitter to Find New Business

by | Apr 5, 2011

For those that follow me, you know I talk about how Twitter is one of my best lead generators. Most people are either afraid or intimidated and there really is no reason to be.

Understanding how your prospects are using Twitter and what personal data they are willing to share can boost its use for new business.

Sysomos is the leading provider of social media monitoring and analytics technology. They have analyzed more than a billion tweets generated by over 20 million Twitter users in 2010. This included bio, website address and location information (both textual and lat / long) disclosed in their profile pages to see how many details Twitter users were divulging.

Here’s some of the highlights of Twitter usage in 2010:

  • The number of Twitter users offering personal information within their bios has more than doubled to 63.3%, compared with 31% in 2009.
  • 82% of Twitter users now provide a name, compared with only 33% in 2009.
  • 73% provide location information compared with 44% in 2009.
  • 45% of users submit a website address versus 22% a year ago.
  • From January 2010 until mid-August 2010, new users accounted for nearly 44% of the total Twitter population.
  • Only 0.05% have more than 10,000 friends they follow, and only 2.05% have more than 1,000. The vast majority of users – 95.8% – have less than 500 people they follow.
  • Only 0.06% of Twitter users have more than 20,000 followers, and only 2.12% have more than 1,000 followers. Meanwhile, 95.9% have less than 500 followers.
  • More than three-quarters of Twitter users – 80.6% – have made fewer than 500 tweets, 2.7% have made more than 5,000 tweets.
  • A small hard-core group (2.2%) have accounted for 58.3% of all tweets, while 22.5% have accounted for about 90% of all activity.

Click on the following link to read Sysomos report: Twitter Statistics for 2010: An in-depth report at Twitter’s Growth 2010, compared with 2009

Some Twitter tools to help you measure and improve:

  • TweeterGrader: a free tool that allows you to check the power of your Twitter profile compared to millions of other users that have been graded.
  • Tweetstats: a free tool that will graph your Tweets and show how many retweets.
  • Bit.ly is a universal url shortener that not only provides a handy service in shortening urls but also allows you to access analytics to see how many people are clicking on your link.
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