Hashtag Analytics: Part 7 = Why Newbies Matter

The number one complaint I get from just about anybody I discuss my work with is this:

• You only care about newbies.  Loyalty is where it is at, Kevin.

Alright.

Let's look at the #blogchat community.

From mid-September to mid-October, 1,631 participants yielded at least one tweet.


From mid-October to mid-November, only 32.6% of that audience tweeted at least once again using the #blogchat hashtag.

Do you understand the importance of that metric?


This is so eerily similar to the e-commerce, retail, and catalog data I analyze.  Those businesses retain about 38% of their twelve-month buyers, year-over-year, on average.

This metric is important, because the #blogchat community, on a monthly basis, loses 67.4% of participants.  The #blogchat community, then, must recruit 1,099 new participants over the next month, in order to keep the community at the same level of participation as last month.

1,631 participants, of which only 532 continue, requiring 1,099 new participants to fill the gap.

How did the #blogchat community do?


Try 1,924 new participants!!

This is the secret to success, folks.  It isn't about loyalty and extracting another three tweets out of mega participants.


No, it is all about finding new participants, newbies who can be developed to eventually become mega participants.

The #blogchat community has figured this out.  Good for them!