36% of Tweets Contain Links >> Top Brands Love Twitter

Social media analytics solution Simply Measured has published a new report which reveals that the top 100 brands are actively participating on Twitter and are seeing some positive return on their involvement. 

The study indicated that 92 percent of brands tweet an average of 12 times per day, and nearly all top brands are active (98 percent). What's more, the study shows that consumers are following brands on Twitter, with top brands audiences growing 20 percent in Q4. An interesting aside - nearly 60 percent of top brands now have following of 100,000 or more. 

- Over 36 percent of all brand Tweets contain links. As content marketing becomes increasingly important, and top brands are behaving more and more like media companies, Twitter is proving to be a critical distribution and engagement channel.

-  Tweets that include photos and links receive 150 percent more engagement than brand averages. Visual content is effective on Twitter, driving more engagement on the content that brands post.

- 54 percent of Interbrand companies send less than one @reply per day. While top brands are dedicating resources to brand promotion, many aren't engaging with users in a one-on-one capacity. 

Another interesting comparison, between Twitter activity for the Interbrand 100 and Forbes 100 Best Small Companies in the U.S., is illustrated below.