I get asked about the business case for Twitter in NZ on a weekly basis.

It's a good question and one that I'm sure is holding back many business owners, large and small. It's a bit of a reality check for some of us more passionate Twitterers.

Almost 2 million New Zealander's have a Facebook profile. But less the 50k New Zealander's are on Twitter. Here is the latest report I have from Catalyst 90 in Wellington

Less than 20k New Zealander's are actually 'engaged' which I'll take to mean they're participating one way or another on a daily basis. 20k is not many people out of a population of a tad over 4 million.

So why would a business invest time and money in marketing to 20,000 people knowing that actually reaching those 20,000 people could take months. On Facebook you could reach the 20k Fan milestone in a few days or a couple of weeks with a good integrated, creative strategy.

So what's the point?

Well you should consider the following:

• Maybe Facebook is the best place, pick the right network for your audience. Fish where the fish are etc
• There are conversations and influencers talking about my brand on Twitter
• My competition is doing it and we don't want to lose market share
• After the initial investment the cost of engagement is greatly reduced making it one of the most efficient marketing tools around.

Actually I want you to think about WHO uses Twitter in New Zealand

IMHO Twitter in NZ is just passing the early adopter phase. MARCOMS people and industry leaders are very active along with media and PR people from all the key agencies and media networks. Heck it's almost every night that we see an article on TV, radio or in the paper thats been sourced or related to Twitter in some shape or form. Media source great stories from Twitter, they hit people up for comments and opinion.

The people on Twitter in NZ are influential in their own right, on and offline, they're tech savvy, hungry for information and eager to network. And it's this active networking that can really drive profitable lead generation and ROI. Remember that old saying "It's not what you know, It's who you know"...

So if your business has a great story, clever campaign creative or wins a big deal, sharing it on Twitter could be the easiest and fastest way to get the message out there.

Whether your business is B2C or B2B it does not matter. We're in a P2P world now (and probably always were, we just did not think it).

Every business larger or small has a case to use both Facebook and Twitter, yes even Panel-beaters. Because some of your customers might check in on Foursquare or Tweet about how helpful your customer service was and those recommendations could drive new customers through your doors....rinse and repeat...get it?

If you want more advice about using Twitter in your business talk to Justin Flitter