For those who are following me on Twitter (@yasminbendror), I know I tweeted about this, but I have the need to write more that 140 characters!
So, David Martin, Vice President, Primary Research at Nielsen Online – a research company that delivers audience and Internet measurement metrics – released some interesting data last week on his blog on Twitter, its retention rate, and predictions on where Twitter will be if retention rates don’t improve.
You can read the report for yourself, but basically, its says that more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month and therefore the site’s growth rate is limited.
After he received a ton of feedback and comments, David issued updates to his study and research which included 30 other applications and websites that feed into Twitter. The results didn’t change.
This is great, interesting data – if its correct – but, so what?? For me, it’s not the intrinsic issue. I feel marketers are so stuck on predictions: Where will Twitter be in the next year? Is Twitter just a fad? Does it have staying power?
Marketers are waiting for “someone” to officially give the stamp of ROI approval on Twitter, but in the meantime are not taking action, and are missing out on opportunities NOW to strengthen customer and partner relationships.
I believe that companies that are agile and have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon with a good strategy and Twitter team are getting great results that compliment their overall marketing and sales strategy. Companies like @Jetblue, @DunkinDonuts, @woot, @zappos, @WholeFoods, @SouthwestAir are just a few that come to mind. Follow them to see what they’re doing on Twitter…
Twitter is not the quintessential or all-important element of your marketing outreach. Its only one piece. But its a powerful communication piece.
If Twitter does dwindle out, so be it. But right now, times are tough, and we need many different channels to reach out to our customers and partners, to talk and connect with them.
So I believe its about acting now and making the difference.
PS: I personally think that a large amount of the Twitter retention problem is about content – and I’ve said this from the beginning – tweets needs to provide value and need to be compelling. I “unfollow” tweeters who tweet about having coffee, watching a great sunset, or getting kids from school. This just does not motivate me to continue to follow them, it doesn’t provide me with anything of value. I think if tweeters get that, less users would drop out.
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