It’s one thing to have a lot of followers on your company’s Twitter account. But the goal is to get retweets, mentions as well as other benefits. If you’re not getting these, exactly what is the point of having all those followers? Fortunately, the Small Business Trends Web site recently ran an article providing clues concerning how small businesses can get more from their Twitter followers.

Demographics

The key, according to Small Business Trends, is for companies to learn as much as possible about their Twitter followers. Fortunately, as the story points out, there are plenty of programs — BirdSong, KnowYourFollowers and SalesForce Marketing Cloud — that provide business owners with valuable information about their Twitter followers.

What They Do

These services can tell you, among other things, the countries, gender, interests and jobs of your followers. They’ll also show you the other Twitter accounts that your followers are subscribed to.

Why This Matters

If you know a little more about your followers, you are able to tailor your Twitter account to better serve their desires. This lets you post messages and offers that your followers will be more likely to respond to. And that, of course, is the end goal of social media advertising.