Let me count the ways. I love thee, for you measure improvement. For without you, I wouldn’t have a clue whether my particular Twitter joke wasn’t funny or just got lost in the noise of a million voices. But most importantly, because you fill my heart with stupid, unwarranted hope that one day Shizzle, Inc will be discovered.
I’m crashing on Twitter Analytics like a stalking teenage girl. I can’t go for more than a couple of hours without checking stats, but there’s more to it than the OCD (I hope). It’s actually useful. If you’re using Twitter for anything other than reading random stuff, you have to get it. Right now. Stop reading this, there’s nothing else useful in the rest of this babble.
The most amazing thing is that all the data and analysis in TA is free. There isn’t a catch, like you have to spam your followers, or drag in your friends, or give up the cash you have not yet earned. And it’s broad, covering analysis I did not previously consider, like engagement rate.
If you Google the net, you’ll find a number of informative, in-depth articles on various virtues of TA and how to use the information to build your brand and reach your customers. I don’t have either the depth of knowledge or the patience to write a similarly informative article, so here goes my dumbed down easy to understand and superficial summarised list:
1. TA reminds me to tweet every day. Oh, how it hurts to forget about Twitter for a day, only to see that it completely forgot about me. Have a look at this graph and note the correlation between the number of tweets (in grey) and the corresponding number of “impressions” (in light blue):
2. TA tells me which tweets were effective and which got a “pfft” response. Yes, you can sorta figure that out based on a number of retweets or likes, but the “engagement rate” reveals if that was due to a sheer number of impressions, or a particularly effective tweet. It confirms time and again that photo-tweets are the most effective. The top two of my tweets over the last three months are both photos:
3. TA holds a promise of the day when it all goes completely viral, like this spike of over 30,000 hits (yes, I double-checked the number of zeroes). All it takes, apparently, is for a famous musician with a million followers to retweet one of your tweets. Which makes me ever so grateful, even if he refuses to follow me back.
4. It feeds my sick need to see continuous improvement. Every. Single. Day. I can’t change much in my day-to-day job, but I sure can enjoy the growing follower count:
That sums it up for me. There’s also WordPress stats, but I’m sure you know all about them. You don’t? Omg, go check them right now! You can thank me later.
Ana Spoke, author 
Very helpful! Thank you.
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I’ve never understood what any of it means.
What’s an impression?
What’s an engagement?
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Impression is how many times a tweet has been seen. An engagement rate is the percentage of how many times a user has interacted with a tweet (retweeted, liked, or clicked on a link) as compared to total impressions. Hence, the number of engagements is the most important measure. I go a step further and maintain a spreadsheet (I also love thee, Excel), in which I track weekly engagements and the number of engagements per 1,000 followers. Something to fill the writer’s block with…
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Maybe this is a silly question but, how do they know it was seen?
There’s so many people tweeting away in my feed I barely see any of it, but maybe I’m being too literal.
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That I don’t know…as mentioned, I lack in-depth knowledge 🙂 I just trust that bit. I think that if it has displayed on your screen, it counts, even if you scrolled past it. hence the ultimate importance of “engagements”.
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Interesting article and informative. I have the same love affair with WordPress stats, and have blogged often about my paranio days while looking in despair / delight at the roller coaster graph! Also, in reading this post, you found another Twitter follower :).
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Hi Ally! Thank you for the compliment and for following – I just followed you back 🙂
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Have you tried Google analytics?
I have to say the ones I watch the most are the KDP sales…horrible feeling when it flatlines. Was almost pathetically grateful for the next few sales I got, the equivalent of resus! 🙂
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I did once a while back, but did not get addicted for some reason… will try another hit now. Can’t wait to freak out over the actual sales, its still a few weeks away. May I ask, have you been analysing what makes an impact on sales figures, and if so – what are your marketing tips?
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Ha! I totally get this–I can’t even guess how many times I refreshed my stats the day my Listserve email went out to 26,000 people!
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What is this Listserve you speak of? And how did you get 26,000 emails? For the love of God I don’t believe in, blog about it! Please!
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Just Googled it…what kind of emails did you get while waiting to win? Would you do it again?
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I didn’t get 26,000! I wish!! I also wish I had some way of knowing how many people actually read it. I got around 50 replies. That feels embarrassingly low to admit.
I’ve been subscribed for about two years, and I’ve gotten just about anything you can think of. Except celebrities, unless they didn’t sign their name. But mostly the daily Listserve is life advice from young adults. Sometimes amusing, sometimes disgusting, since I’m 37.
Would I do it again? You bet your life I would!
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Interesting read! thank you very much for sharing your insights! Though still a novice, I hope to build a strong base and advice like this helps immensely! Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you! I’m here to help 🙂 I’m still a novice myself, but starting to feel like maybe I’m getting a hang of this social media thing…basically, you give up on your real social life and engage with strangers, with the engagement being key.
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Ironic isn’t it?!
Since I’m nowhere as advanced as you, I hope to read, learn and catch up soon. If you don’t mind, I shall ask for your help/advice when I find myself in a technologically induced coma!! 🙂
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Omg, I’d love that 🙂
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Sounds like a plan, Ana! 🙂
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Thanks for the ‘Twitter Analytics” post. I will start appending a photo!
Evangeline
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You’re so welcome! Next, use it to figure out the best time of the day to post…
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