Twitter statistics are a fairly easy thing to understand, if you just know what to look for. While many people don’t have the slightest clue what they’re doing on Twitter, the folks who do know tend to do a lot better for themselves. In fact, much of the success some people experience on Twitter is as a direct result of understanding their statistics and acting on them accordingly. With a small amount of practice, you can act as effectively as a pro and build your success dramatically. The following are some greating starting points.

Followers

When someone follows you, it’s a sign that they either like what you’re saying or want you to follow them back. In the latter case, such as if it’s a bot, you can simply ignore them and go on your merry way. However, if the person actually likes what you have to say, the process of being followed can be great for you.

Comments

When people comment on your tweets, it can be an excellent bit of feedback about what you’re saying and how much of an effect it’s having on people. While comments and responses are similar in how they’re presented — they’re both tweets at you — a comment is primarily a reaction to what you said. When people react to you in a positive light, or sometimes even in a negative light, it says great things about how much traction you’re getting. You can refine your message a lot in a very short amount of time based on the comments you receive.

Responses

The responses you get are tweets, just like your comments, but they are an entirely different thing to quantify. When you receive a response, it is often something a person thinks about your general message instead of your original comment. This can tell you a lot about how the general public, or your customers in general, view your overall marketing and branding effort. Pay very careful attention to this, as it’s the gist of public perception. By contrast, comments tend to be about the more specific details of a post.

Subscribers

New subscribers are your bread and butter, whether you realize it or not. When you have plenty of new subscribers on a regular basis, you are growing your customer base and getting more people to opt into your message. The more people you resonate with, the more sales you’ll be likely to make and the more repeat customers you’ll be likely to have.

Twitter can tell you a lot, and much of it doesn’t require any fancy software. Ultimately, the people who follow you, the growth in the number of those people and what they are saying to and about you are ultimately the most important stats you need to keep track of.

About the Author: Kimi Gaboury is a social media expert who spends a lot of time teaching small business owners about their Twitter statistics. Take your time, build your fan base slowly, and make genuine posts and before you know it you’ll be experiencing huge success!