Brands are changing the way they interact with users on Twitter

Brands are changing the way they interact with users on Twitter, as they increasingly use the platform to provide more customer service, according to a new report.

A report published yesterday (11 Feb) by Simply Measured, a social analytics company, found that 68% of brand tweets have consisted of direct replies to consumers in the fourth quarter of 2014. That is a rise of 61% from the previous year.

Top brands are now more likely to engage on the platform, with interaction – including tweets, replies and retweets going up by 25%. As regular tweeting becomes more common, user engagement has risen by 105% since the fourth quarter in 2013, according the report.

A spokesperson for Simply Measured told Marketing Week: “We anticipate this change is from more and more companies turning to Twitter to help with customer service enquiries or providing customer service in real time on the platform.”

The research is based on the Twitter activity of a list of the 100 Best Global Brands selected by Interbrand in 2014, which includes companies such as McDonalds, Microsoft and Disney.

Last week (4 Feb) brands such as O2 told Marketing Week that they are moving from using social media engagement as a measuring tool for loyalty or sales, as they look to tie social and commercial business objectives closer together.

Joel Windel, EMEA marketing manager for Brandwatch, told Marketing Week that although customer service does not show a direct rise in revenue, it has proven to save brands a lot of money through crisis management.

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