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Is Twitter the key to growing your small business? Yes, it is, according to this study [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Australian tech start-up Bigcommerce, a software company that powers online retailers of all sizes, recently teamed up with Twitter to do a study into how online retailers use social media to connect with customers.

If the findings of this study are anything to go by, it appears that although a lot of the talk for SMEs heading online and utilising social media seems to be centred on Facebook, more SMEs should be looking at Twitter if they want to grow.

Some of the interesting findings from the study include the following:

  • 60 per cent of online shoppers have purchased from an SME because of Twitter
  • 3 in 4 shoppers feel better about an SME after following and reading their tweets
  • 90 per cent of followers who got a reply from an SME had positive brand sentiment – showing it’s vital for brands to engage their fans on the social network
  • Retailers in sports and recreation, jewellery and accessories have a higher than average ROI per follower (21x and 53x respectively)

Australian entrepreneurs are succeeding with Twitter

Several Australian entrepreneurs are using Bigcommerce to sell online, and combining it with Twitter to engage their customers. Anthill reached out to one of them to learn more.

Naomi Ingleton, from the Myrtleford Butter Factory, is a famous artisan butter producer who is proving that online food retail is not limited to non-perishables with her Bigcommerce store. She currently engages close to 3,500 fans through her Twitter account.

“We use Twitter to engage our customers who are otherwise unable to directly come to us; we have a growing brand that is not readily available through the big chain supermarkets. We are located 3.5 hours from a major city and spend most of our time in our factory making our product rather than out on the road,” she revealed to Anthill.

“Twitter offers us national engagement with our customers, current and potential, and we are able to form relationships with our peers both here and overseas in real time. We have a really lovely and engaged foodie community that we nurture through direct contact.”

“We use Twitter to personalise our business and product, we believe in forming a relationship with all those engaged with our brand. We get direct feedback and can address any issue from the source. We are targeting customers and not wasting resources on blanket marketing,” Ingleton added.

The infographic below summarises the key findings of the study.

bigcommerce-twitter-infographic