I read Brandweek this past week and have been thinking over the feature article titled “The Tweet Hereafter – Just how effective is Twitter as a marketing tool?” The argument in the article is rooted in the lack of participation on Twitter, the decline of new users per month, and the disconnect between large brands and their audiences on Twitter.
I bring up this article because I see validity behind the points. I think it’s something to consider when suggesting Twitter to clients or for your own company. One director of social media strategy stated that Twitter was effective for only a few areas of marketing:
- customer relations management
- deals and promotions
- conversations for smaller, lesser-known brands.
The statistics also prove a point. Large brands, such as Verizon and Target, have 5,000 to to 10,000 followers. Smaller “organic” brands like Woot and Someecards have almost 2 million followers. And some celebrities? 3-4 million. Why? Because the smaller brands and the celebrities have distinct personalities that larger brands simply cannot have on Twitter (unless it’s the CEO or a customer service help-line like Best Buy’s Twelpforce). Think about how many checkpoints corporations have to go through if they want to get their tweets approved, etc. It takes a long time, and the personality gets lost in the process.
The CEO of Someecards, which has 1.7 million followers in a little over a year, credits his success to his ability to express his creative personality within his brand on Twitter (snippets of wisdom, random links, etc). Twitter matches with the company mission – their cards are all short-form communication. They are known for great one-liners. Twitter works.
Bottom line: No one is really certain how long Twitter will be around. But what I am learning is that before we jump into these social network tools, we need to be thinking about what purpose they serve us. Does Twitter really work for your company? It’s easy to set up an account, it’s easy to acknowledge that everyone in involved in it currently – but are you asking: Why is it good for me?
Being on the cutting edge is crucial in this industry. Equally so is our ability to evaluate these cutting-edge trends and decipher whether or not they align with our brands’ goals. I would love your feedback.
Posted in: Brand Development, Online Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized
Tags: brand development, Brand Strategy, online marketing, Social Media, twitter
2 Comments 
I definitely believe Social Media Marketing is a great marketing tool but the element of importance here is: which audience do you need to converse with and what message do you want to convey? This changes depending on your goal (related directly to strategy) but conversation is a part of it – otherwise social media wouldn’t be the marketing tools used. Sometimes you need to look at the big picture and not just the little ones. As they say “Thinking that you are doing social media by just having a twitter account, is a bit like believing you are building a house by just holding the hammer”
Agreed, Mariella. Strategy is the most important element of a successful social media campaign. Anyone can be on Twitter and anyone can reach an enormous virtual audience. But before you do, you have to understand the larger framework in which your specific brand functions. What value is your brand providing your audience and how will you converse with them? Does the “culture” of your organization fit the style of Twitter? I enjoyed your quote – after all, how can a house get built without a blueprint?
Thanks for your comment!
-Melissa