When it comes to movie marketing and box office numbers, not all tweets carry the same weight. On average, a single tweet results in more box office revenue when posted four weeks prior to a film’s release date than the week before. The value of a single tweet can fluctuate based on variables such as a movie’s genre or spread of brand awareness from ads aired in weeks prior to the film’s release. Studios can also use Twitter to monitor the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

Variety reports that in a study conducted by Networked Insights, it was determined that “[a] single tweet on average can add $560 to a film’s opening weekend… [Four] weeks before the release — when the studio typically kick into high gear — a moviegoer’s tweet is worth $713 on average in additional box office revenue… That declines to $161 a week before the film bows.”

In terms of genre, animated family features are the most positively influenced by tweets. Similarly, “[tweets] that express an intent to see a film are the most valuable — worth $4,420 four weeks before a movie’s release, and $1,100 the week before it unspools in theaters, making them six times more valuable than all tweets combined,” Variety explains.

Movies studios follow a common practice of releasing additional marketing material for movies as they near their release dates. By then however, the studio’s previous marketing efforts have already convinced as much of an audience to go see the movie as they will ever have. These late marketing pushes, whether via social media or TV spots become somewhat trivial.

People are more likely to talk about a film when they have something new to talk about, like a new poster or trailer for instance. With that in mind, Variety urges studios to “develop more original ways to promote their films in a campaign’s final days in the future, and perhaps rely less on tactics that proved tried-and-true in the past.”

Studios can also use Twitter to better understand how to reach their audiences. “[Early] Twitter activity can help studios figure out whether their campaign are on the right track — by putting a monetary figure on the responses to their efforts,” according to Variety.