October 10, 2017

Social Media Marketing: What Happened To Twitter?

Since its conception more than 11 years ago, Twitter has grown to become one of the world’s largest social media networks. However, with the rise of Instagram and other, newer social apps, is Twitter still a relevant marketing platform?

Who Uses Twitter Today?

According to statistics and studies portal Statista Twitter averaged 328 million monthly average users in the second quarter of 2017 – up 15million users in one year. Although this may seem a lot, it simply cannot compare with the growth it once had. For example, Twitter saw a 67 million user increase during the same period in 2012/2013.

Worldwide, Twitter is now the tenth most popular social network. Facebook continues to reign supreme with more than 2 billion active users, whereas YouTube (1.5billion), Instagram (700 million) and Tumblr (357 million) also have some of the highest user numbers.

Compared to these larger networks, Twitter’s growth is starting to flatline.

In a July 2017 report, Statista published the below comparison chart.

Which Platform Has The Best Engagement?

In May 2017, TrackMaven revealed which platforms see the most engagement. Its study of 700 businesses in 13 industries found that Instagram is the most engaging platform in all industries bar real estate, and Twitter was found to have the least engagement.

As with anything, quantity does not necessarily mean quality when it comes to digital marketing. It can be great news to see a lot of traffic, but without engagement and conversions can you really say your marketing has been successful?

According to Statista, in August 2017 Facebook had the most active users of any social media site in the world with 2.05 billion. Instagram came in seventh with 700 million monthly active users, whereas Twitter had just 328 million.

So, Facebook reigns supreme in terms of user numbers, but does it also see the highest engagement? Well, according to a study by Business Insider, yes.

In a study that examined engagement on a per-user basis, Facebook also leads the way in terms of engagement. It is followed by Snapchat in second position and then Tumblr in third.
LinkedIn proved to be the least effective and users spent the least overall time on this platform of any other social site.

How Do People Use Different Social Media Sites?

However, it is also important to look at the type of activity on each platform. As Facebook has matured, so has the behaviour of its users. Fewer people are now posting on Facebook and instead using it to consume and share news, memes/GIFs, videos and blog content. Snapchat, on the other hand, is mostly utilised for messaging and Instagram is the photo sharing social network of choice for many.

Brands may also benefit from looking at the type of user who uses each site and adapting marketing activity around this. For example, We Are Flint reports 64 per cent of 18-29 year olds in the UK use Instagram, nearly 30 per cent more than any other age group studied. These Instagram users are also more likely to be women living in an urban area.

In contrast Google+ users are more likely to be males aged 30-49 with a high disposable income.

Align Demographics To Analyse Relevancy

According to the Pew Research Center, university educated men aged between 18 and 29 who live in urban areas are more likely to use Twitter than any other user type. So, if this is your target demographic, yes, using Twitter for marketing would still be relevant for your business.

If, however,  your target customer is young women, your marketing efforts may prove more fruitful on Instagram, whose average user is an urban woman under 29 years of age. Alternatively, LinkedIn could be a marketing platform of choice if your typical customer is a 30 to 59-year-old white man with a university degree and relatively high earning potential.

Is It Worth it?

Using Twitter for marketing can still yield great results when done properly. Despite its slowing user growth and poorer average engagement statistics, a fine-tuned Twitter marketing strategy can still be highly successful – especially if your target persona matches its key user demographic. But marketers shouldn’t be complacent. By doing the research and crunching the numbers of your most engaged users, you can fine-tune a social media mix which is uniquely tailored to both your needs as a business and the wants of your consumer base.