Twitter rolled out its new analytics platform this week, allowing businesses to make better use of their Twitter accounts. This came just days after the news that Pinterest too has opened up its analytical offerings to help businesses get the best out of social media. This data can feed into your content strategy, ensuring quality output, and making this a very exciting time in social media marketing. We look at what that means for businesses using social media to engage with their audience .
Twitter is the most popular social platform of the two mediums, with 271 million active users every month. The enormous demographics can make an individual company’s range difficult to gauge, but the new analytics tools allow businesses to measure whether they are reaching their target audience, and if they are producing quality content that resonates with their followers. Whilst analytics packages have been accessible for several months, this is the first time it has been rolled out across the entire platform.
The analytics interface focuses on tweets from the company during the past month. It graphically interprets the data showing trends not only over a period of time, but also depending on days of the week. This is particularly valuable information, as when content is released is almost as important as what is tweeted. It may suggest that on particular days of the week followers are more likely to click links to longer articles, but on others something more digestible is in order, and therefore content can be tailored to best suit the audience.
However whilst the new Twitter analytics are a substantial improvement on previous data, they can be complimented by other sources of information such as Socialbro, which can pinpoint the most popular times of day, as well as days of the week.
On the other hand, by exporting the data from the ‘Tweets’ and ‘Tweets and Replies’ sections, you can analyse the level of engagement that followers had with the tweets, which includes times and days of the week. Using programs like excel the information can be evaluated, and sections of importance can be focused upon.
Pinterest is still a relatively new social media platform, having been launched in 2010. Yet users to tend to spend longer on Pinterest than Twitter or Facebook, and so it can be a great way to engage users, as businesses have their attention for longer.
The analytics tool only works on business accounts, but it’s easy to change, and incredibly worthwhile. A breakdown of the company’s audience is useful, but nowhere else more than under the ‘Interests’ section. Here, specific interests of those that follow the brand are displayed, which feeds perfectly into content strategy. It can even show other brands followed by your audience, which can help to target the content, or even create partnerships.
The ‘Impressions’ section is also particularly interesting. Similarly to Twitter, the data can be exported and put into a spreadsheet to decipher the best days and times for specific content. It can also filter by device type, ensuring that the content is suitable for mobile devices as well as online.
The introduction of tools like Twitter and Pinterest’s new analytics platforms make it easier for businesses to create content that has an impact on their audience, and is therefore more successful at fulfilling business objectives. By feeding the information generated by such websites, a strong content strategy can be created and implemented, thus engaging the audience, and enhancing the online presence of the brand.