Twitter Audit
December 2016
Prepared by:
Mary Ann Davis
Senior Marketing and Communications Manager
Howard County General Hospital
A member of Johns Hopkins Medicine
Demographics
Most of Leadership Howard County’s Twitter followers, 65%, are between the ages of 35‐54. However,
21% of followers are between the ages of 25‐34, just slightly lower than the 45‐54 age group. Women
account for 66% of all followers while men account for 34%; 2% are unknown but likely to be
organizations.
Tweets
Frequency
Current frequency: Over the past six months, from June – November, Leadership Howard County
averaged one tweet per week.
Recommended frequency: Twitter’s real time like nature requires higher tweeting frequency, mainly for
the purpose of being seen in the Home Screen. The more frequently a brand tweets, the more likely the
brand and its messaging are seen. General best practice is to tweet four to six times a day; however,
there is no right or wrong frequency strategy. Experimenting with increasing the tweeting frequency,
especially during peak times when followers are using Twitter, will likely prove to be beneficial.
Timing
Current tweeting times: Leadership Howard County tweets at various times with 10 and 11 a.m. being
the most frequently tweeted times.
*Source: Followerwonk, Dec. 7, 2016.
Recommended tweeting time: Tweets should be published at peak follower usage times to better
increase impressions and engagements. Ideal tweeting times are generally as follows:
1. 1 p.m. 4. 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
2. 9 a.m. 5. 10 a.m.
3. Noon 6. 8 a.m.
*Source: Followerwonk, Dec. 7, 2016. This chart is regularly updated, and should be consistently monitored to adapt to any
changes.
Content
Current Content Performance
Leadership Howard County’s tweets receives an average 391 impressions and typically two
engagements per tweet, which includes retweets, replies, follows, likes and any clicks on the tweet,
including hashtags, links, profile photo, username and tweet expansion.
Tweets having higher engagement typically included photos with hashtags and/or tagging of other
accounts. The following are the top five tweets in the past six months, from June – November, that have
received the most engagement.
Tweet Engagement Engagement Rate Impressions
32 1.7% 1,921
30 5.2% 582
4.2% 646
27
23 1.7% 1,367
5.2% 330
17
16 3.7% 436
Recommended Content
Continue tweeting photos and experiment with uploading videos as tweets. Twitter allows for the
uploading of videos that are 60 seconds or less. Captioning should be added to videos that include
speaking to accommodate the Home Screen’s auto‐play function as most viewers use this method to
watch videos. Also continue to use hashtags and tag other accounts for greater visibility.
Industry and late breaking news are ideal for Twitter. Leadership Howard County should continue to
provide its own immediate news, but also experiment with retweeting applicable trending industry
news topics from credible sources. Engaging with others, including retweeting, typically contributes to a
favorable social perception.
Also, consider doing more live tweeting during events, seminars or workshops. It can be a great way to
provide followers with valuable content and encourage engagement from them, especially with those
who are not able to attend. Live tweeting efforts should use a hashtag and be promoted in advance to
increase follower awareness and participation.
In an effort to further connect with current followers and gain new followers, Leadership Howard
County may want to consider hosting Twitter Chats, which are real time focused conversations that use
a unique hashtag, about a specific subject.
Benchmarking
Leadership Howard County has an opportunity to compare its Twitter activity against the activity of
other leadership organization’s Twitter accounts. Monitoring these accounts can provide insight into
follower count, posting frequency, follower engagement and content ideas, especially from tweets that
receive considerable engagement.
The following leadership organizations have Twitter accounts.
Maryland
Leadership Frederick County – 1,313 followers
Leadership Montgomery – 1,094 followers
Leadership Anne Arundel – 718 followers
Leadership Washington County – 608 followers
Leadership Prince Georges – 523 followers
Washington D.C.
Leadership Greater Washington – 1,036 followers
Leadership Howard County has 510 followers.