While at the Buyer’s Market on Monday, I had the chance to hear Peter Shankman speak about social media. (I’ll be sharing more about BMAC and the other trade shows in upcoming posts.)
During his talk, he shared a really interesting statistic. Only about 5% of the US population has ever tried Twitter, and only about 1% convert to what could be called active users.
His point? Unless you have concrete proof that your customers are on Twitter, skip it. Focus on other things. Like Facebook and text messaging, which many more people use on a daily basis.
Since then, I’ve trotted out that statistic several time to absolve people from all future tweeting.
After all, 1% of the population is pretty small.
Except it’s not really.
1% of the US population is still over 3 million users. And that’s not even counting all the international users.
That’s a lot of potential customers.
Especially in a business where you may only need 1000 true fans to survive, you can probably find them all on Twitter.
Maybe I’m just looking for excuses to justify my Twitter addiction. And if you hate Twitter, there are probably better uses for your time. (Like Facebook.). But it seems to me like a few million potential customers isn’t so bad.
What do you think? Is Twitter worth your time?
It’s definitely worth it to me! I tweet, I get sales. I see it work. BUT it’s important to develop relationships on Twitter. If you only tweet your products, it gets old. I try to use the 80/20 rule – tweet 80% relevant info & retweets; 20% my business.
YES!! Twitter is my most valuable social networking tool. It’s more than just connecting with your customer. It’s about connection with other people who have the same goals and interested as you. A perfect place to learn and connect to people you admire. Yesterday I tweeted about a product I bought, the seller retweeted my tweet to her 5000 followers and 10 of her followers retweeted my tweet to their followers! I figure about 15 000 people were introduced to me and my product within 5 min of me posting about someone else. I then had a flurry of positive comments about my product and new twitter followers!
Super interesting thoughts here.
One thing that I have noticed about Twitter is that it is much more “business friendly.” Meaning, it is more normal to follow businesses and people are open to hearing what businesses have to say. I find this to be true compared to the very personal relationships people keep on Facebook. I am only friends with people I actually know on Facebook, but follow pretty much only people/businesses I don’t know on Twitter.
I can tell you from the consumer perspective I love reading tweets from my favorite vendors about sales or new items in stock. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made an impulse buy because of a tweet. And I usually retweet the good deals. And since you can link Twitter and Facebook I would think it can’t take up that much more time to do some tweeting.
Love your take on this.
If I have 6,000 followers – how can you tell me that’s a waste of time? If I have access to 200,000 via others networks, how can that be bad?
I totally get what he means. And I respect that some businesses are better suited for other platforms. But if you’re at all in tech or B2B sales, Twitter is worth it.
I read the first paragraph and “cheered” in my head. I hate the time suck of twitter. I have never noticed an increase in customers through twitter. When I decided to significantly decrease my time on twitter (like, only pop on once a week or so) I only missed the connection with other small business owners/makers/artists. I think Twitter is wonderful for that, some quick feedback when you need it. And I don’t pop on just to “use” that anymore since That’d be quite a one-sided relationship.
Hello all from the UK!
I agree with the majority of the comments here. Twitter is great to connect with people, particularly other people in the same business. Full time crafting can be isolating if you are working from home on your own so twitter is like having some work mates to talk to. Plus I find people are very generous and will answer questions or retweet you, even those that could see themselves as your ‘competitors’
I also love the way you can directly connect to people you wouldn’t have been able to previously. I tweeted about an album this morning of a favourite band and was retweeted by that band. That could never have happened before.
I do understand Jen’s point that it can be time consuming but I do think it is worth it. I have had sales come through from twitter alone.
So I will continue tweeting. I suspect the growth in android and iphones may lead to more people using twitter on the go.
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I am totally addicted to Twitter. I can’t stand Facebook! I always tell people who ask if they should be tweeting, “Try it, see if it’s for you.” Because social networking is very personal. Some people love Facebook, so that’s where they should spend their time. If you aren’t enjoying yourself on social media probably no-one will enjoy interacting with you. And for me, Twitter is all about interaction. Also the chance to connect with people I don’t already know, without connecting them to pictures of me at my family gatherings (like on FB). If you post a link on Twitter to your blog post I will probably click on it! (case in point right here). If you link to your shop items endlessly, I will not click on anything and I will unfollow. Just be a human! If you enjoy tweeting, go for it. If it feels like a waste of time, you don’t have to do it!
Twitter has been completely invaluable for me–but in an unexpected way. Though I definitely connect with customers directly there (and consciously work to do that more so every day), it has been totally invaluable for connecting me with other business owners in my community. This, in turn, has lead to literally COUNTLESS opportunities for me. It’s helped connect me with people who helped me produce 3 events in the last 1 1/2 years, helped me land store accounts, and really helped me network without networking when I moved here just a year and a half ago. It has definitely helped me grow my business, especially locally!
I’ve been on Twitter since 2006 (or is it 2007?), so it’s most definitely useful for me. I’ve been able to get more people to my website, build up my mailing list, and even got a few speaking and writing opportunities from using Twitter. And all of these things eventually did lead to more sales.
One reason why I think it works for me so well is that I learned very early to be careful about who I follow and made sure that they are the same type of folks that are interested in crafts, jewelry, Etsy, and other things that I’m interested in. As a result the folks that are following me are actually interested in what I’m tweeting about and in turn I also learn some useful things from my followers as well.
The 1% statistic is useful in a limited way. It’s not about just finding a bunch of followers, it’s about finding the right bunch of followers. And even if it’s just a few thousand, that’s a few thousand that you didn’t have before. And you never know who else those few thousand are connected to.
I met Scott Dadich, who created the ipad format for all of the Conde Nast magazines. I asked him about this 1% factor in using tools like twitter. He explained that I should be seeking out the people on twitter that are influencers. Their interests become disseminated through other media that my customers ARE reading.
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Personally, I use twitter for ‘business networking’: finding out what other designers are up to, getting ideas for projects, etc. I don’t use it as a main sales tool.
My facebook page is completely dedicated to content of interest to my customers- new items, sales, tips & techniques, etc.
So, I don’t expect twitter to be a main source of sales for me, because I use it differently than I do facebook. But, that may change over time- and I certainly enjoy tweeting!
For B2B users, Twitter can be a pretty good tool, since a lot of businesses are on Twitter. For B2C, you’ll probably see fewer conversions, but if you use a tool like Hootsuite it takes you no extra time to put things on both Twitter and Facebook, plus Twitter still offers some SEO benefits, so even if you’re not getting direct sales it is still okay for link building, especially if you are getting retweets.
I just started using twitter, and feel a little awkward there. It feels a bit like walking into a big happy party where everyone knows each other well, but I’m the new girl on the block.
I’ll give it some time..
A friend of mine has a wildly successful jewelry business that she runs entirely on twitter and (sometimes) facebook. No blogging, no website.
Was just wondering the same thing on my blog (http://www.lizruest.com/2011/is-twitter-worth-it) after a year on there. I’m probably most in line with Stacy’s reply — connecting with other artists is worth it, so I just try to manage the time-sink part and keep it fun.
I guess the most important thing is who represents the 1% of the population actively using Twitter? Are they people who would be most interested in buying your products, or influencing those who might buy? It comes down to knowing your market best and where they’re located.
I’m more interested in how Twitter might expand. Is it worth it to get on it now, so you seem like a forerunner to your audience? Or is it going to stay at 1% and probably not ever reach my audience and therefore be a waste of business time? I ask this because I don’t actively use Twitter and only want to get involved with it if there is going to be a definite benefit.
Interesting stats. I have been more involved in Twitter these past three months and have seen a lot of traffic from it. So, I think it’s worth my time. It is quick and easy. I don’t spend hours on.
You can spend minutes on Twitter and produce big results.
I adore Twitter! Truth is, I can’t stand Facebook, so I stick with what I enjoy using. And I like Twitter for being able to connect with friends and other businesses, but I have gotten sales from it, too (bonus). Since I’m no longer selling on Etsy, and I’m not part of a team, Twitter helps me network.
I’m not sure how accurate Shankman’s numbers are. This article covers how many users on are Twitter and that the number should reach 200 million sometime this year. http://www.tgdaily.com/software-brief/52284-twitter-on-pace-to-reach200-million-users-by-2011 Now a large number of twitter users aren’t active users, some gave up and abandoned their accounts, some just use Twitter to follow people and not tweet, even if only 1/10 of Twitter users are active that’s still 20 million people.
I have close to 5,500 followers on Twitter, it’s brought me a lot of business. Not just from my followers buying my jewelry but also because it’s connected me with bloggers who’ve then covered my jewelry on their blogs, people reweeting my link to their network which may or may not have overlap with mine, sending the link to friends, posting it on facebook after seeing it on Twitter, etc. The total reach of my twitter activities is probably far larger than the number of followers I have.
I agree with a lot of the sentiment here, it definitely depends on what your goals are and how you communicate. I coach my clients to try it out to see if it feels right, but I follow that up with “If you struggle to put your thoughts into 140 characters, Twitter will always be a struggle and it’s not worth your time.”
I on the other hand was really reluctant to use Twitter, but I gave it consistent effort, 30-60 minutes a day for a month and I made some great connections I never would have made on Facebook. Many of those connections are friends in the real world too.
For me Twitter is about connecting, conversation and sharing, where Facebook is about broadcasting.
I agree with a lot of these comments – I think the most helpful part about twitter is not “generating sales” per se but connecting with others, especially other crafters and Etsy sellers and learning from eachother. While it was intimidating to jump in at first, I appreciate that twitter is such an interactive place, much more than blogs or facebook. At the same time, it can definitely be a time suck too so I am trying to manage that.
I agree with what others have said here. Twitter can be an amazing tool, especially if you use it well. The primary function of Twitter is sharing information quickly and making social connections. Keep that in mind as you decide how much time to spend on it. Using programs/applications that schedule tweets is important for those hoping to promote their businesses with it. Although sales may not happen as a direct result of Twitter, those sales will eventually happen with increased traffic to your shop/blog/website and by creating relationships. I schedule tweets for promotion, have new blog posts automatically tweeted, and then retweet information I find useful for my followers. I like the balance so far.
Oh how I have struggled with this one. I am off and on with twitter and just can’t learn to like it. However I think part of my resistance comes from articles after article telling me I must use it (as well as FB). Whether or not he is correct I find Mr. Shankman’s take encouraging. I think we need to use the tools that resonate with us if we are to use them successfully. I have not given up on twitter yet, but I am not putting it at the top of my to do’s either.
Thanks for addressing this!!!
If there was one way to make it in the business world, we would all be ahead. Thankfully (the creative in me speaking) we don’t live in a monopoly and our individual creative markets vary, allowing one person success on twitter, while others find stronger markets elsewhere. I am part of the 95% of the population who has never tried twitter and have enjoyed listening to both sides of the story in the above article and subsequent posts. For the first time I am persuaded to try twitter- perhaps someday I’ll give it a try.
Twitter is a great way to connect with people and build relationships. But it is just a tool. If you find it to be a time suck or distraction, then step back and decide what your goals are for using Twitter and how much time you want to make for it. If Twitter doesn’t resonate with you, find another social networking tool (site) that does. I agree with @GwynMichael that the tools must resonate if we’re to use them successfully. That’s why I don’t use facebook, lol!
Twitter scares me! I want to but ugh! Its overwhelming! How are you supposed to keep up with all those tweets and mentions and links and wow…I don’t even know.
However, I was scared of FaceBook at first but now I feel pretty fluent. Oh well…I hope to find you on twitter since that is where all the peeps are…pun intended. 🙂
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I have met fantastic, interesting people on Twitter! We have a Twitter family that supports one another’s endeavors.
Remember @Twitter is a conversation. What is a conversation?? It is a true exchange!! A place to listen & be heard 🙂
I have my own small design business that has received tremendous exposure through Twitter. Last winter I decided to showcase some of my Twitter friends with my the product I created and design.
I started a Blog http://rosesofdistinction.wordpress.com/ that has showcased many of my Author friends I have met on Twitter.
My designs were invited to attend a Pre-Oscar gifting event in Beverly Hills CA because of my Roses being seen through Twitter.
@KatieSheaDesign is #Design Finalist in the Oscars of Twitter by The NY Times, the @shortyawards -> http://bit.ly/KatieSheaDesignShrtyAwrds
So I am thinking that Twitter has been good to me.
Twitter is not a place to continually push your product. It is a place to form relationships and build on those relationships.
Kathy D
This is what we’re just trying to decide! We have Facebook and we recently created a Google+ page;Twitter is something we’re still on the fence about. But when you put it the way you did, there’s so much potential – over a million users!! Any tips on a strategy for actually using Twitter?