Why Twitter matters for you as a business person

You may be wondering why Twitter matters. Isn't it just another of those social networking timewasters? And what's so excellent about "social media," anyway? Many contemplate it all a fad, blithely dismissing social media as just another lonely hearts club in a brand new digital domain. Honestly, what real value can come from all of this online interaction - writing on walls, "friending" others, sharing pictures and passions - that engages 110 million U.S. users daily?

The fact is, social media has grown at an exponential rate, in a means that other traditional communication methods never achieved. Think about these statistics of communication-tool precursors in regard to the amount of time each required to reach 50 million users:

Radio: 38 years
Television: 13 years
Internet: 4 years
iPod: 3 years

Now consider that Facebook engaged 100 million users in under nine months. Applications for the iPhone were accessed by one billion users in a same nine-month period. Twitter is on a similar growth path. Clearly, social media is far more than just "social." When it comes to the positive - some say explosive - impact of social networking upon business and branding, consider these facts, sourced from Nielsen:

14 percent of shoppers say they trust company-produced advertisements
18 percent of traditional TV ad campaigns generate positive returns on investment
25 percent of search results online for the world's toptwenty largest brands are links to user-generated (socially accessible) content
34 percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands
78 percent of shoppers trust peer recommendations

With that final bullet, it's clear that many use social networking sites and tools for more than mere social interaction. In fact, it has been determined that social networks and blogs now serve as the fourth most popular online activity, exceeding individuals' utilization of their own personal e-mail accounts.

That said, it's clear that social media has been transformed in remarkably short order, proving the naysayers wrong once they asserted it was nothing more than the usual frivolous distraction with no resultant value. On the contrary, since social networks have become the communication method of choice for an emerging generation, it is more than clear to astute businesses and brands that now is the time to migrate for this new arena where individuals are talking. Therefore, Nielsen's published research has concluded:

88 percent of companies have now indicated they are employing social media for marketing purposes
72 percent of businesses, however, have only been using social media marketing for less than 6 months
81 percent of businesses say the number one benefit of social media sites and tools is generating company and brand exposure, followed by increasing traffic and building new relationships with peers and customer
Over half of businesses that employed use of social media saw an increase in their search-engine rankings
Of social-media tools marketers most desired to learn about, Twitter ranked second-highest, following social bookmarking sites

So if you thought social media amounts to simply another dalliance into developing personal popularity and nursing a low measure of self-esteem, think again. Truly, individuals are gathering and chatting, but they're chatting about much more than last night's date, last week's fashion faux pas, or last month's run-in with Mom and Dad. They're talking, all right, but they might be talking about you and your business - if you are there to be talked about.

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Why Twitter matters for you as a business person

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