How many people tweet? How many people have a twitter account? Well, here is what the numbers tell us:

• Only 9% of adult Americans use twitter–so do not feel left out.
• The Average Twitter user has 27 followers.
• 25% of all twitter accounts have ZERO followers.
• 40% of twitter accounts have never sent a single tweet.
• Only 18% of twitter users tweet more than once a day.
  • Data courtesy of RJMetrics and EMarketer via Hub Spot

Based off of that data, you are probably wondering “Is this really a good media for me?”. At this present time, does the answer yes and no sound wishy washy enough? Here are some interesting facts regarding those 9% of adult Americans on Twitter:

• The majority of US Twitter users are ages 18-29 (a segment of population most retailers are not getting now).
• 1/3 of Monthly Users are ages 25-35 (again a segment of population most retailers are not getting now).
• Twitter users are more educated verses the national averages.
• Twitter users as a result of education have higher incomes than national averages (good for retail).
• They tend to be early adopters of products and services verses national averages.
• However, they spend equal the amount of time watching TV verses the national average.
  • Data courtesy of Edison Research, PEW Research Center via Hub Spot

I want to cover that last statistic regarding the amount of time a Twitter user spends watching TV. Due to the abundance of smart phones and lap tops it is very easy to watch TV while browsing online. A Nielsen report that came out in March of 2010 found that 60% of all households use their computers while they are watching TV. Six out of every ten people use their computer while watching TV.
As a result, we believe, you have the ability to talk in real time to your customer if you deliver the creative necessary to that target audience.

So, how can this drive results to the retail level? Two Ways:

1. Use the statistics that you know that 60% of your targeted audience during your TV commercial is watching television and drive them somewhere. Especially since we know twitter users follow national averages in amount of time daily spent watching TV and exceed national averages by double the amount of time spent online we can continue the conversation. In continuing the conversation it allows a potential for a transactional relationship to occur which bolsters success.
2. Your twitter portal generated through your current TV buy will allow you to begin extracting customer data and trends from the age brackets of 18-35 which are going to be the next big generation of the consumer infrastructure. Using this target audience as your case study to merchandise and brand your store correctly will give you a leg up in the next big generation race.

With all of these great things there are some serious pitfalls that must be taken into consideration:

1. Figure out what your twitter voice is going to be on the front side before you begin driving people to your portal. If you have not established what you are going to say and how you are going to say, you are going to spoil the potential that you just created.
2. It has to be helpful and thought provoking. Remember that we know these potential followers are more highly educated than the average American which ensures they may have higher expectations of us. As a result we must not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.
3. At the first sign of trouble do not crawl into a shell and forget about this new medium. One slip up is not going to equal disaster. Pick up the pieces and learn from the mistakes.