The value of a Twitter follower for small and medium-sized businesses

When someone follows you on Twitter, you gain a chance to engage with that person over time. Now a 2013 study shows that followers don’t just see your Tweets — they also take actions that benefit your business.

For example, customers share positive experiences about the businesses they follow on Twitter with their own network of followers (64%), spread the word about your business through Retweets (70%), and are also much more likely to buy from you in the future (72%).

Each time you engage your followers, you create new opportunities for them to share content, make purchases or tell others about their positive experiences.

Even a single follower can benefit your business in these ways. Now multiply that benefit by your total number of followers. Then consider Twitter’s 230M monthly active users and the followers you can attract in the future — that’s the real value you can unlock.

We’ve seen this effect come true for countless small and medium-sized businesses on Twitter. To illustrate this powerful relationship, we teamed up with Visual.ly to create this interactive desktop example.*

Promoted Accounts help businesses expand their audiences on Twitter. They also accelerate relevant follower growth, which means that businesses can leverage the value of their followers (greater reach, sales, and recommendations) more quickly. And last month, we announced an enhancement to this product that creates more ways for advertisers to attract new followers and for users to find the businesses and people that interest them.

If you’re interested in using Promoted Accounts to gain new followers who are relevant to your business, you’ll need to create a Twitter Ads account and then select Promoted Accounts to begin your campaign. If you already have an account, simply log in to get started.

We look forward to hearing your feedback — tweet us at @TwitterSmallBiz and let us know how your followers help you drive results for your business.

*This example includes fictional accounts, created for illustrative purposes.