Twitter use is on the rise.
For the last five years or so Twitter has been one of the most popular sites on the Web. Users love that Twitter offers a quick way to connect with other people. The big reason Twitter seemed to succeed early on was how they enticed celebrities to use the service. Ashton Kutcher and popular sports figures and singers and other celebrities were giving fans a glimpse inside their daily lives.
Some people loved it. Others didn’t get it.
Today people are using Twitter to share information with friends and family. Some use Twitter to broadcast updates for their circles of friends and the service now appears to be more popular than ever.
According to the article on eMarketer – Daily Twitter Use On The Rise:
Twitter use is on the rise among US adults, particularly among the 18-to-24 age group, and a growing percentage of those consumers are using the service daily.
In the “Twitter Use 2012” survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 15% of US internet users reported using the site in February 2012, up after a drop from 13% in May 2011 to 12% in August. However, the percentage of users who said they accessed the service daily doubled within the past 10 months, to 8% in February 2012, up from 4% in May 2011.
It’s good to see the use of Twitter on the rise from a blogger’s perspective. There are two reasons I think this will benefit you and your small business blog.
Twitter is Great for Referral Traffic
Twitter has been one of the best sources of referral traffic for a variety of my personal blogs over the years. The best method for getting Twitter referral traffic is to start with great blog content. If you have limited time, as most small business owners do, it’s best to focus on your own platform instead of someone else’s. This means putting in the effort to make your blog great while not focusing on a platform like Twitter or Facebook.
Great content will be shared by those in your network that use Twitter. Add blog posts to your email newsletter. Share the posts with current customers and peers in the industry. More people are using Twitter and they will share your great posts there with their followers and friends. It’s referral traffic from a great source.
Be sure to focus on getting subscribers from the referral traffic.
It’s good to have a following of your own on Twitter, but if you’re limited on time it’s better to focus on your blog content first and Twitter second. Let others build their audiences and use your content for their material.
Twitter Users Need the Content Bloggers Provide
Twitter is best known for limiting each entry to 140 characters. People have become pretty good at cutting down on their phrasing so they can share their thoughts and insight with followers. Twitter users will post their own original content, but they also use Twitter to share links with their followers. It gives a person satisfaction to know that they’re providing something their followers find useful.
The good news for bloggers is that Twitter users need content to share. Since more people are using Twitter the demand for content should probably increase as well. The demand for great content will increase even more since Twitter users need to share only the best otherwise they’ll risk losing the interest of their followers.
Once again, focus on being the content provider. Let Twitter users spend time building an audience on Twitter by sharing your content. It’s a better way to grow your own blogging property and getting people to opt-in to a list you own (like an email list).
Twitter use is on the rise and I see that as a great trend for small business bloggers.
How is your business blogging going?