Using research compiled by Brandwatch, MyCleverAgency has published an infographic shedding light on the activities of some of the top brands  using Twitter.

The infographic highlighted a massive increase in brands publishing content via Twitter this year. Back in 2011, the number using Twitter stood at 62%. Now, approximately 97% of brands are using the site to engage with customers. This represents a 7% rise against figures compiled last year.

Similarly significant increases were found when Brandwatch examined the number of companies operating multiple Twitter accounts, which rose by almost a third (28%) in the space of a year. Many brands operate one account for customer services and another specifically for news and company announcements.

Dell was found to be the brand with the most accounts on Twitter, operating a whopping 44.

When asked why they choose Twitter, the majority of brands (69%) said they use the site for broadcasting developments and engaging directly with users.

Overall, Twitter activity has increased dramatically. Last year, around half of those surveyed tweeted fewer than seven times per week, but now the average number of times a UK-based brand will tweet per week is 30.

Those based in the United States were found to be much more prolific tweeters, with a weekly average of 221.

There was also evidence in the findings supporting the importance of quality over quantity when it comes to publishing content. While the top 10 most followed brands were found to publish a tweet every 6 – 20 minutes, not one of them made a list of the most engaged brands.

As well as quality content, visuals were also essential when it came to engagement. Tweets that included photo or video content were, on average, up to four times more likely to elicit engagement – such as a retweet, favourite, reply or mention.

The full infographic can be found here.

Richard Bell

Richard has a First in English Literature and Creative Writing, and has experience writing fiction and short stories (which he has published both online and in magazines).