Brands using Twitter must focus on engagement

An Immediate Future product story

Edited by the Marketingweek Marketplace editorial team Aug 6, 2009

Research by Immediate Future has revealed that approximately one-third of brands using Twitter as a PR and marketing tool have almost no impact on their audience.

The research, entitled 'The Truth about Twitter', examines the behaviour of a cross-section of 140 UK and global brands on Twitter.

As well as analysing how they use the channel to communicate with consumers, the research looks at how often people forward or 'retweet' each company's tweets to their own followers.

A third of the brands featured in the research receive no retweets at all; a clear sign that their followers never find their communications interesting enough to share with their own networks.

Katy Howell, managing director of Immediate Future, said: 'When marketers talk about Twitter, the focus is too often simply on the number of followers.

'This doesn't give you a realistic picture of how well the organisation is engaging with its audience, since it can be quite easy to drum up a large number of followers, even if most of them are not that interested in what the brand has to say.

'But by examining how often its posts are retweeted we can get a much better idea of how interested people are in engaging with a brand.

'In effect, the more a brand is retweeted, the more it has the attention of its audience.

The research shows that many brands are following relatively high numbers of Twitter users compared with the number of users who are actually following them back.

This is potentially damaging since it is viewed by most as undesirable spam.

Howell added: 'The problem is that many brands view Twitter as a broadcast channel and they measure their success on the size of their audience, rather than the level of engagement they have with their followers.

'The best brands attract followers by having something interesting to say and engaging their audience in a genuine conversation.

'Organisations that think it is good enough to build up a large number of Twitter followers and broadcast the same tired corporate messaging at them are not only missing the point, but also the opportunity.