3 Ways to Use Context From Twitter Profiles

Demographic data is an essential element in social media strategy. After identifying a core audience, marketers can select a platform and start tailoring their campaigns. The problem is that demographic targeting is often too broad and not the most effective way to connect with audiences on social media. A report from Spredfast offers insight into how Twitter profiles can be used to uncover deeper audience context.

Twitter's bios may be short but users provide clues into users' self image:

A 160-character open field (for information like “loves dogs” or “digital marketer”) and free-form location field (resulting in text like “Paris”, “Berlin”,or “the 512”.) This data gives other Twitter users context around who they're following, points of origin for different opinions, and insight into potential connections. When mined, in aggregate, it can also tell us things about people that we might not be able to otherwise see.

Spredfast analysed 4 million European Twitter accounts and discovered interesting trends emerged about users, and about attitudes. Love appeared in the top 10 among five nations polled as did music, life, and Instagram. Other popular terms included student, world, country names and major cities.

There are other national trends that could be used to inform a national campaign. The most popular term in France is Snap/Snapchat, so any French campaign would be well served by being cross platform. “Views are my own” was a popular phrase in the UK, an indication that users may be resistant to sharing messages, necessitating a more approachable campaign.

Job pride and family ties were also high in the UK, with 12 percent of bios mentioning a job title and almost five percent mentioning family/father. The use of sports and religious terms were highest among the Spanish, while Germans cared most about travel.

Spredfast has three tips for using this kind of data:

1. Search beyond the conversation: Real-time marketing works best when backed by data, and users provide a wealth of it. Consider geolocation, time of day, and sentiment, not just a hashtag.


2. Data is great one-on-one and in aggregate: Don't become focused on the small or big piece of data. Understanding the data allows for more broader reach while targeting for influencers or other special users.


3. Target groups within groups: With the amount of context users are willing to share about themselves, don't target too broadly. For instance, music fans are not a monolith, target tightly for better results.

For more insight into user trends, and to see how brands are succeeding on social, read the full report from Spredfast here.