Until a few months ago, Twitter didn’t mean much to the Fargo-Moorhead community. And to many in North Dakota and Western Minnesota, it still doesn’t mean much. The purpose of this article is to not only provide an introduction to Twitter, but to demonstrate how this social medium greatly enhances brand interaction, public relations and other marketing objectives.
Twitter’s exponential growth in popularity as a social media outlet has made it a successful, non-traditional source of marketing. By revolutionizing social media and online interaction, Twitter is poised to change the face of marketing as we know it. But before you modify your current marketing budget, pull your traditional media and forego marketing methods that have been successful, understand that Twitter and other social media need to be refined and perfected as marketing tools. While the overhaul of mass communication won’t happen for some time, it’s important to understand what change is taking place and how you and your company can get involved.
Twitter Basics
Twitter is a social media platform where users update personal information in bite-sized posts of 140 characters or less – roughly the same size of a text message. The purpose of Twitter is to connect with people “in the now” rather than through lengthy blog posts or phone calls. In all reality, Twitter is nothing more than a series of status updates much like you’d find on Facebook.
Subscribers are called followers. As a user, you can follow anyone by searching for names or common interests. By following someone, you can see every update and stay connected. Many people follow friends, family, celebrities or other people of interest just to see what they’re up to throughout the day.
Twitter also allows you to share links or responses with all of those following you. Twitter works because it’s easy to update from a cell phone and isn’t as time consuming as checking Facebook profiles or reading blogs.
Marketing On Twitter
Since the late 60s, branding has sought to personify products and companies. In doing so, people have an immediate emotional response and will make purchasing decisions based on how they feel about a company. Twitter takes that personification to another level. By creating a page for a company, Twitter enables marketers to directly inform and communicate with those interested in the product. More importantly, the brand can actively seek out people who may be interested in its product or service.
Get Started
Open an account with a user name that matches your brand and upload a picture. You can also change the background of your page to reflect your business. Next, seek out friends, family, competitors and people who may be interested in your product or service. It’s a good idea to seek out people, companies and groups that you are interested in on a personal level, too.
Seek Out Your Competitors
There are two primary reasons for following your competitors, especially when starting out. First, if your competition is using Twitter correctly, they will have already sought out a lot of the audience you are trying to reach. That allows you to save man power and catch up quickly. Second, you can see what your competition is doing both in terms of Twitter messages and marketing tactics in general.
How Twitter Is Changing Marketing
According to Google’s CEO, Twitter is “a poor man’s email”. In other words, Twitter is micro-communication within a mass audience. Over a million people use Twitter daily and that number is growing – fast. But unlike traditional media, Twitter is constant and conversational. Traditional media and even most social media use one-way communication whereby a message is delivered and hopefully received.
Because Twitter keeps the message short, it’s faster and easier to directly communicate with more people, respond to followers and change the message. Twitter makes brands more reactive while making them equal with the common user. In this, Twitter is humanizing the brand.
Twitter also encourages expansion. Smart businesses follow users outside of their industry. Absolute Marketing follows its competition, but it also follows president Barack Obama and comedian Jim Gaffigan – people that would be unlikely to use our services. We seek things, groups and people that we find interesting. The hope is that we meet people who find us interesting and follow us.
Trouble With Twitter Marketing
Twitter is time consuming. Even though Twitter allows for quick updates and interaction, it takes a great deal of time to find followers and stay in touch. Unlike traditional media, Twitter cannot stay idle. In traditional media, the bulk of the work is done through the concept, creation, production and media buying strategy. After that, the ad runs during its allotted time and everyone takes a break. Twitter requires constant involvement. Without directly communicating with followers and showing a company’s humanity, Twitter falls flat and loses its credibility. Successful Twitter marketing also requires intelligent message writing. With only 140 characters at your disposal, choosing the right message and responses are crucial to your success.
Why Market With Twitter
According to an article by Chris Brogan, 56 percent of Tweeters (people who use Twitter) use Twitter for business purposes.
Computer manufacturing giant, Dell, attributes $1 million in sales revenue last year to Twitter’s ability to inform people of sales, discounts and promotions.
Companies like Quicken are using Twitter for customer support, offering tips and answering questions through Tweets (updates and feeds).
Still, other companies use Twitter to stay ahead of public relations nightmares and put out fires.
Closing Thoughts
As Twitter continues to grow, the role it plays in marketing will increase. Absolute Marketing Group can help set up your account, manage your online image and maximize your Twitter results. To get started or ask questions, give us a call. If you’re feeling adventurous, follow us on Twitter and post your questions there.