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Archived in A year ago if you’d told someone you were on Twitter they’d either have thought you had too much time on your hands or needed to get out more. Well, a year is a long time in the digital world, and Twitter is now the trendy web address being added to people’s business cards.
What was once a niche communication tool for the techie crowd is now being used by TV presenters, pop stars and presidents for talking about themselves and interacting with their fans.
Whilst much of the media spotlight has focused on what ‘Wossy’ is supposed to have said or what mundane comments Britney has tweeted, Twitter has recently been hitting the headlines because of its growth of 974% in the last year.
With Russell Brand now one of its most popular members, you can expect to see Twitter’s popularity continue to grow as awareness spreads and more people flock to join, which is something brands are only too aware of.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is described as ‘micro blogging’ because of the strict 140 character limit on messages. Whilst little more than the length of a text message, this restriction means messages (or Tweets) are more spontaneous, impulsive and immediate than conventional blog posts, leading to it being used in a different way.
Common types of Tweets include sharing interesting web links, comments on current events (photos of the plane that crash landed in NY’s Hudson surfaced on Twitter within minutes), asking and responding to questions, or telling people what you’re doing.
Its conversational nature means that a large segment of Twitter’s estimated 3 million users are professionals using it as a networking and personal branding tool.
However, Twitter’s growing popularity could see it soon become a mainstream social media tool to partner Facebook in enabling people to stay in touch with friends, family and the things they care about (which could include brands).
Why should brands care about Twitter?
Twitter enables people to interact in groups based on their shared passions and interests, which is something brands are desperate to be a part of.
However, brands know that if they simply use Twitter to broadcast sales messages (otherwise known as spamming) they risk being ignored or excluded from their Twitter audience altogether.
So brands are treading carefully to make sure they don’t startle people on Twitter or ruffle anyone’s feathers (sorry, pun intended). But those who have made progress into becoming a valued member are discovering its potential as a marketing tool,
The ways in which brands can use Twitter include:
- Humanizing the brand – digital can seem a robotic, unfriendly medium, and Twitter can give brands a human voice for talking directly with customers.
- Engaging customers – people are starting to expect more from brands than just having messages broadcast at them. They now want to be able to interact and gain more value from the relationship. Twitter can provide a platform for interaction and enable brands to engage with their customers and foster closer relationships.
- Online PR and brand monitoring– a dissatisfied customer with a large network and an axe to grind can spread bad feeling like the bubonic plague online (just ask Dell). However, search filters on Twitter can enable brands to respond to criticism in an open format and enhance their reputation for customer service. People hate being ignored, but love being listened and responded to.
- Distribute offers and announce events – Tesco owned US chain ‘Fresh and Easy’ uses Twitter to post special offers and details on new store openings, so don’t be surprised if your local Tesco appears on Twitter soon. Whilst brands need to be careful they don’t use it purely to push sales, the permission based nature of Twitter can make it an effective tool for distributing offers.
Along with these benefits you can also add the low cost of marketing on Twitter due to its simplicity and because…well…it’s free (at the time of writing anyway).
Twitter presents brands with the challenge of being able to match the tone of their Tweets to their brand voice (whilst still sounding human) and allowing the freedom for open conversations with customers.
However, Twitter is a valuable new tool available to digital marketers for enabling greater engagement with customers, responding to criticism openly and building closer relationships with their brand.
Just make sure you have something of value to say, because nobody likes a bore who just endlessly praises themselves.
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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:18 am
[...] post: This Is Why Your Brand Needs to Be On Twitter Share and [...]
January 30th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
The list is certainly growing but unfortunately the list of brands doing it effectively is still relatively small. I’ve been trying to keep track of the more prominent ones on my site and my hope is the list continues to expand:
http://is.gd/8A0S
February 8th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
How does one get on twitter?
February 9th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Hi George.
You can register for a Twitter account here. The signup process is short and simple, and you can start ‘tweeting’ as soon as it’s done.
Hope this helps!
February 11th, 2009 at 10:33 am
[...] This Is Why Your Brand Needs to Be On Twitter [...]
April 9th, 2009 at 3:57 am
the language to communicate on twitter is kinda confusing where can I get help to understand better of how to communicate on twitter?
April 16th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hi Amy,
The best glossary I know of for Twitter is http://twictionary.pbwiki.com/. Alternatively, try http://twittonary.com/ (note that their search is broken right now, but the rest of the site still works.)
Hope this helps!