At the end of the day, it all comes down to numbers, and these Twitter and Facebook business facts are some good ones.

The marketer in us wants to pursue the power of social media because we have studied and understand its potential. However, the business person in us (and those in our companies) want the cold, hard data to back up business decisions.

Social media measurement and social media ROI are still some of the most heavily debated points on the topic. We thought we would make the conversation a little easier for both the marketer and business person in all of us by sharing a few notable Twitter and Facebook business facts.

Twitter

• 37% of people on Twitter will purchase from a brand they follow.
• 79% of Twitter users are likely to recommend a brand that they follow.
• 67% of users on Twitter are more likely to buy from a brand that they follow than one that they do not.
• In the last two years, there has been an increase of 663% of users asking for business recommendations on Twitter.
• 70% of small businesses in the United States are on Twitter.
• 33% of people on Twitter follow a brand.
• 40% of Twitter users use the network for information gathering.
• 69% of Twitter users follow brands based on recommendations from friends.
• 77% of online shoppers use Twitter and other reviews and comments before making a purchase.

Facebook

• On average, ‘fans’ spent an additional $71.84 on products for which they are fans of, compared to those that are not ‘fans’ on Facebook.
• Fans are 28% more likely than non-fans to be loyal to a brand.
• Fans are 41% more likely than non-fans to recommend a brand they are a fan of to a friend.
• The number of businesses that say Facebook is critical or important to their business has increased by 75% in the last year.
• 77% of B2C companies have acquired at least one new customer through Facebook.
• 43% of B2B companies have acquired at least one new customer through Facebook.
• 80% of social media users in the U.S. prefer to connect to a brand on Facebook.
• Local businesses’ Facebook pages average 645 million views per week.
• 23% of users check their account 5 times or more daily.

These are just a few stats that should get your marketing side and your business to agree that, at the very least, Twitter and Facebook are important.

Which statistics do you think is the most interesting? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

(Sources: HubSpot, Social Media Today, Social Media Examiner, The Huffington Post, Search Engine People)