Twitter: Do you tweet?; Yes, No, Maybe
It is taking on the social media space by storm. eMarketer reports that by 2010 18 Million people would be tweeting in US alone. That is quite a bit of chirping in the online space. India however has a different story to say. Comscore says that there were close to 120K unique visits to twitter during Feb 2009. This figure is minuscule and no marketer would consider tweeter as a medium of engagement at this point of time.
However, looking at the exponential growth of people who are joining the tweet-wagon, it would soon become an ideal brand communication tool. And NOW is the time for a brand to experience, learn, and improve using this tool
Ok. Some brands are already using twitter. Obama had used this successfully during the US Presidential elections. Media keeps reporting about how everyone is participating, networking, tweeting, and befriending…. So what can brands do to leverage this growing phenomenon?
Why Twitter?
Twitter as a social media tool is all about real time status update. This is done through the web (by far the most popular) and through various Mobile phone applications including SMS.
Why do people tweet??
Here’s an interesting article that dives into a variety of topics of how and why people use Twitter.
The following research report dives into Twitter use by looking at 425 active users and one of the key issues it aimed to tackle was the “why tweet?” question. According to the study from Pew Internet and American Life Project…
“Interestingly, there is does not appear to be one standout reason why people use Twitter, the research found. Rather, there are a variety of economic, learning and social motivations.
When tweeters were asked to rate the reasons why they participate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree), MarketingProfs calculated the following averages for each of the responses:
- “I find it exciting to learn new things from people”: Average score 4.65
- “I value getting information in a timely manner”: Average score 4.58
- “I like to be connected to lots of people”: Average score 3.91
- “I want to generate new business”: Average score 3.70
- “I find it gratifying to have people follow me”: Average score 3.64
The findings show that the highest number of respondents are motivated by learning new things and getting information in a timely manner.”
What can a company/brand do in the twitterosphere??
Twitter can be used to build a community, network directly with consumers, share PR news and updates, add personality to your company’s brand, provide status updates related to your company or service, and probably a lot of things that have yet to be discovered
A company that has a focused digital approach in terms of a website/blog, which has a growing and dedicated traffic can use Twitter as an ‘outreach’ platform. This way people having interest in the company or brand can follow the tweets from website / blog or connect with other like minded people. Interested readers are redirected to the website for more content or engagement
In the current avatar – twitter is all about timeliness of the content, and the companies / brand can leverage the same – at no cost
There could be many more, some of the things I feel the brand can tweet about are:-
1) For PR
2) Company updates (Internal and External audience)
3) New launches or What’s new
4) Job vacancies
5) A discussion board
Companies or brands can work our unique ways to capture the user interest.. Suppose a company is working on a new product development – without giving confidential information a real time update on what’s happening can be tweeted – the trails and tribulations of bring out a new product can be captured in 140 character updates the company tweets… such intriguing stories can capture the user imagination and soon your flock will grow..
Try Twitter. And may your followers grow
Cheers
Santosh
However, looking at the exponential growth of people who are joining the tweet-wagon, it would soon become an ideal brand communication tool. And NOW is the time for a brand to experience, learn, and improve using this tool
Ok. Some brands are already using twitter. Obama had used this successfully during the US Presidential elections. Media keeps reporting about how everyone is participating, networking, tweeting, and befriending…. So what can brands do to leverage this growing phenomenon?
Why Twitter?
Twitter as a social media tool is all about real time status update. This is done through the web (by far the most popular) and through various Mobile phone applications including SMS.
Why do people tweet??
Here’s an interesting article that dives into a variety of topics of how and why people use Twitter.
The following research report dives into Twitter use by looking at 425 active users and one of the key issues it aimed to tackle was the “why tweet?” question. According to the study from Pew Internet and American Life Project…
“Interestingly, there is does not appear to be one standout reason why people use Twitter, the research found. Rather, there are a variety of economic, learning and social motivations.
When tweeters were asked to rate the reasons why they participate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree), MarketingProfs calculated the following averages for each of the responses:
- “I find it exciting to learn new things from people”: Average score 4.65
- “I value getting information in a timely manner”: Average score 4.58
- “I like to be connected to lots of people”: Average score 3.91
- “I want to generate new business”: Average score 3.70
- “I find it gratifying to have people follow me”: Average score 3.64
The findings show that the highest number of respondents are motivated by learning new things and getting information in a timely manner.”
What can a company/brand do in the twitterosphere??
Twitter can be used to build a community, network directly with consumers, share PR news and updates, add personality to your company’s brand, provide status updates related to your company or service, and probably a lot of things that have yet to be discovered
A company that has a focused digital approach in terms of a website/blog, which has a growing and dedicated traffic can use Twitter as an ‘outreach’ platform. This way people having interest in the company or brand can follow the tweets from website / blog or connect with other like minded people. Interested readers are redirected to the website for more content or engagement
In the current avatar – twitter is all about timeliness of the content, and the companies / brand can leverage the same – at no cost
There could be many more, some of the things I feel the brand can tweet about are:-
1) For PR
2) Company updates (Internal and External audience)
3) New launches or What’s new
4) Job vacancies
5) A discussion board
Companies or brands can work our unique ways to capture the user interest.. Suppose a company is working on a new product development – without giving confidential information a real time update on what’s happening can be tweeted – the trails and tribulations of bring out a new product can be captured in 140 character updates the company tweets… such intriguing stories can capture the user imagination and soon your flock will grow..
Try Twitter. And may your followers grow
Cheers
Santosh
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