Does following = attention?

Whether you use Twitter for business or personal use, you may be pleasantly surprised at the number of people following you. Even if your Tweets are reaching hundreds of followers you should be asking the simple question: “Are they really paying attention to what I say?”

If you are a business owner who is exploring online marketing as a tool to generate new business or communicate with existing clients, you may be familiar with Twitter’s valuable role which complements content generation by creating daily customer awareness. The number of new and existing clients who follow your company’s Twitter account may be large, but can you be certain that they are taking in the message contained in your tweets?

Ask a number of Twitter users whether following equals attention, and the replies you are likely to receive will differ greatly. While some users read through their tweets more carefully than others, one fact remains: following is not enough, there has to be interaction.

On a practical level, you can never be sure how many of your followers have read the tweets you release on a daily or weekly basis. The best indication of the interest your tweets are generating is the number of people who reply and re-tweet your messages – these are people who have absorbed your message and have been inspired to share it with others or reply to it. That is a sure sign of attention.

As much as interaction equals attention, no interaction does not equal no attention. The fact that a follower doesn’t respond to your tweets shouldn’t cause you to think that your message hasn’t been heard. The pace of life today means that some people simply don’t have time to respond.

As long as your following is growing with a good number of followers interacting with you on Twitter, you can be satisfied that you are attracting the attention your business deserves.