Social media marketing is the great equalizer – it allows smaller companies to compete on relatively equal footing as larger companies to reach their target audience.

Not to mention that by using social media, you can directly communicate and engage with your audience, which is a great way to build a relationship with consumers, thereby improving your brand’s reputation.

There are a number of social media platforms to leverage for branding and lead generation. The one that cannot be ignored is Twitter. Twitter marketing has become so effective that no small business should have a social media marketing strategy that doesn’t include Twitter.

The following are five statistics that show just how important Twitter marketing is:

  1. Twitter has over 316 million active monthly Twitter users – That’s a huge potential audience right at your fingertips. Obviously, you’re not going to reach 316 million consumers, but the odds of finding your target audience becomes much greater when you are using Twitter. And this is without considering the fact that the total user base is closer to a billion, and that there are a 100 million daily active users! There aren’t many mediums where you’ll have a built-in audience to target like Twitter – certainly not offline.
  2. The average user follows at least five businesses on Twitter – This is actually an incredible statistic. It shows that Twitter isn’t just a social media network used among friends – it’s actually an incredible marketing tool. People follow businesses on Twitter in order to keep up with updates released by their favorite brands. This means that you have a real chance to connect with your customers and it means that there’s a greater chance that your Twitter marketing efforts will be effective.
  3. Around 79 percent of users recommend brands that they follow – This just proves how effective Twitter marketing can be in increasing brand awareness and exposure. Even if you just got your current and past customers to follow you, this can result in your company being recommended to even more followers. Even more important is that 69 percent of all Twitter users will follow someone on Twitter based on a recommendation from friends.
  4. Around 42 percent of consumers learn about new products and services via Twitter – This makes Twitter one of the best ways to keep your customers up to date about any new products or services that you are launching. The success of a new product or service, as you well know, depends on how much awareness you can generate for it. As you can see, marketing new products and services on Twitter will greatly improve the chance of success.
  5. Around 85 percent of users feel more connected to businesses after following them – This proves that your follower base isn’t just an empty popularity stat on Twitter. One of your goals as a small business should be to build strong relationships with your followers by instilling confidence and trust. Consumers that feel a connection with a brand are more likely to buy from them – and more importantly, they’re more likely to be repeat customers.

If there was every any doubt in your mind as to how effective Twitter marketing is, these five statistics should go a long way in helping to dispel them.