How Many Twitter Followers Does It Take to Affect Lead Generation? At Least 100.

This is the third of three articles that share findings from  The State of Inbound Lead Generation , a HubSpot report based on statistical analysis of 1,400 customers' inbound marketing activities. The study identifies  lead generation best practices  based on results from these companies. The report and this article were written by Sophie L. Schmitt.

The third key behavior worth noting for its strong impact on leads is setting up a Twitter account and growing followers. The positive correlation between Twitter usage and leads was statistically confirmed for B2C companies in our sample. For B2B customers, however, the results are less reliable.

Growing Twitter Followers Increases Leads Up to a Point

The graph below shows the relationship between Twitter reach and median leads. Median leads jumped almost 30% once customers achieved follower numbers in the high double digits.

The largest jump in leads took place once customers garnered several hundred followers . As the graph shows, leads may not continue to rise with Twitter reach beyond multiple hundreds of followers (501+). Perhaps this is due to the challenge of growing engaged followers. These more engaged individuals are those who will retweet content to their own followers, visit the company web site when enticed to do so, and/or post updates on topics related to the customer's areas of interest. Leads are more likely to come directly and indirectly through these more engaged individuals.

B2C Twitter Users Generate 2x More Leads Than Non-Twitter Users

In addition to looking at Twitter reach, we also looked at Twitter usage. As the graph below indicates, B2C customers who use Twitter generated two times more leads than B2C customers without a Twitter account . These results are consistent across company size.

Marketing Takeaways

As the data reveals, Twitter can help marketers generate leads by growing followers, but only up to a certain point. Once accounts achieve multiple hundreds of followers, growing reach appears to lose its impact on leads. More research will be necessary to confirm and better understand this phenomenon.

In summary, Twitter allows marketers to:

• Build relationships with individuals who prefer shorter-format content. Consider building your Twitter reach by following companies and individuals related to your industry. These individuals are likely to follow you and share your Twitter updates as retweets.
• Enhance relationships with individuals who are already blog subscribers by serving them blog content in a shorter, more digestible format that they can consume "on the go" through mobile devices.
• Increase their presence in Google . Tweets are now searchable in Google through Google real-time search.

What are your thoughts on the impact of Twitter on your marketing results?

Read articles 1 and 2 in this series.

Want to read more? Download the full  State of Inbound Lead Generation report .

Live Webinar: The State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation

Learn how companies are using inbound marketing techniques to generate higher volume and lower cost leads and customers. Date and time: Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 1:00pm EDT  Reserve Your Spot Now