Twitter as a Marketing Tool

Within a few years of its launch, Twitter has become the most popular micro-blogging application. Users can access Twitter on powerful broadband connections and even on their mobile phones. It allows 140 characters in a single message to share information among members through mobile phones.

Twitter can also be accessed through more than 50,000 third-party Internet and mobile applications. “The timely bits of information that spread through Twitter help users to make better choices and decisions,” the company says.

Twitter is free to join and use. There is no cost for using Twitter to promote your personal or business site. Celebrities are using Twitter to update their fans with the latest info on them. Businesses find it as the most beneficial way to build brand image and earn more business. Twitter is also used as an effective Internet marketing tool. With Twitter, you can increase traffic to your website and earn a higher page ranking. Nowadays Twitter is gaining popularity as an alternate RSS , news monitor, and a tool to socialize.

According to comScore, the number of visitors who visited Twitter in January 2010 was 75 million. This, according to Twitter officials, represents 1,100 percent growth in one year. Most Twitter users reside in the United States. Twitter says they send 50 million tweets a day to followers worldwide. Traffic to the website grew explosively. According to Alexa, a popular Web analytics company, Twitter.com is No. 12 in the world in terms of user traffic.

Website analytics find that Twitter.com scores the highest rank in South Africa, where it is ranked as the 8th most-visited website. In the U.S. it is ranked twelfth. In countries like the United Kingdom, Pakistan and the Philippines, the website is tenth.

Twitter as a Marketing Tool

Because of its rising popularity, Twitter is also used as a marketing tool to promote businesses. This helps businesses stay connected to customers. Business can use it to quickly share information with people interested in the company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about the company. Twitter is a simple tool that helps connect businesses more meaningfully with the right audience at the right time.

Brand marketing has become more complicated nowadays. It demands a huge amount of money, resources and a lot of time. Since Twitter is a social networking app, brand marketing through Twitter is more economical. It can spread the message to a number of users instantly. The tweeting facility helps companies deliver information about the brand to users in a cheaper way. It is also a very efficient way of brand marketing because the information is passed to the right person at the right time. Only interested parties will follow the company, so the brand is getting the desired visibility among prospective customers.

The chain of customers connected through Twitter helps the brand gain sudden popularity. For this reason Twitter is widely used as brand marketing tool. The short tweet that spreads through Twitter is highly effective. Users show special interest in them because they are sent from known sources or their buddies. Twitter may also contain other relevant information interesting to its followers. These functionalities make Twitter as the most effective brand marketing platform.

With Twitter, organizations are now able to stay connected with their customers whenever and wherever they want. The app provides users with a number of customization options. Being a social network, Twitter is connected to millions of customers from different countries. Thus the company gains a wider reach than could have been gained through any other media.

Twitter has plans to offer Tweets over SMS and MMS as a free service. The company is involved in talks with leading telecom operators. In today’s mobile world, people are increasingly depending on mobile phones for their jobs. New apps are being developed to enable mobile users to handle their day-to-day activities like conferencing, banking, ticket reservation, etc., through their mobiles. Businesses are increasingly leveraging the capabilities of these applications to reduce costs and increase productivity. The availability of Twitter over SMS and MMS will make the service more acceptable to common people as well as the business community.

However, businesses, especially the not-so-popular brands, may find it difficult to get followers. This is the negative side of the Twitter story. Almost every business – big and small – tweets today. However, as tweeting competition increases, people get lots of tweet messages on their mobile. Soon they become frustrated with the flood of tweets they receive. They are no more motivated to subscribe to more such offers as they are already fed up with them.

Some of the leading companies using Twitter for brand marketing are Dell, JetBlue, Teusner Wines, Current, Tasti D Lite, Coffe Groundz, Etsy, NAKED Pizza, American Apparels, Pepsi and Levi’s.

The success of JetBlue is often cited as an example of the power of brand marketing using Twitter. The company joined Twitter in the spring of 2007. Today the company has more than one million followers. Similar is the case with major brands like Dell and Pepsi.

A Twitter case study on Dell explains, “Dell Outlet faces a common but vexing challenge. A division of the giant made-to-order computer business, Dell Outlet carries refurbished equipment and other inventory that it needs to sell quickly. Because the division has to get the word out fast, it doesn’t have the luxury of hiring an agency and developing an ad campaign.”

“Pepsi may be a classic brand, but it’s using 21st century tools to collaborate and build relationships with customers,” says the case study published by Twitter.

“We’re trying to humanize the brand, to make it more accessible to consumers,” said Anamaria Irazabal, brand director for Pepsi. “On Twitter, they can complain or praise, and we can use it as a way to gauge how people are feeling.”

Methods to Increase Brand Visibility Using Twitter

It is important for businesses to maintain their existing followers while also gaining new ones. To achieve this, the company has to tweet with the latest information interesting to their users. Not only that, the information should reach them at the correct time. You can opt to send a message on a particular date or day of the week. By giving options such as “Follow Friday,” you can increase the impact of the message. Such options also allow you to customize the message and make it more acceptable to followers.

Most businesses also provide their website links while sending a tweet message. This is effective as it generates traffic right to the website from Twitter. Being a popular social networking site, Twitter has gained a good page ranking in all search engines including Google. Thus, gaining traffic from highly-ranked Twitter websites will help optimize your website for popular search engines. This is an additional advantage of using Twitter, apart from the commercial benefits.

Innovation is the buzz word on the Internet. Twitter is no exception. As the community involves the participation of millions of users, ideas may jump from anywhere in the world. Watch out for such innovative ideas and create new ways of communications. You may get creative ideas such as sending an exclusive car deal or a printable redeemable coupon to your followers via tweets. They are the best opportunities to conversion.

Information is key to promoting any business activity. Your customer should know what you are offering them, and micro-blogging is an excellent way to inform your customers. The message written within the tweet window attracts the eyes of a customer because they are short and direct. To write such a short message may be difficult for the company. However, considering the importance of this communications medium, you should make the message crystal clear and avoid bombastic phrases.

Over-tweeting invites more trouble than good. If you tweet more than once about the same information, people may label you a spammer. It’s important that you distribute the information only when it is absolutely necessary. Don’t tweet over every bit of information about your brand. It will never be appreciated. It is better if you could send tweets at regular intervals. This method will invite more interest among users because they develop a mindset to accept your message at that particular time.

Constant communication with followers is necessary to keep in touch with them. The latest information about the company and also other information going around the world should be discussed with the followers. This is a highly successful method in marketing through social media. As Twitter is the most famous social networking site, you will get wide acceptance by sending non-marketing tweets along with marketing tweets.

Though Twitter is not designed as an advertising tool, it has grown to become one of the most cost-effective and powerful advertising platforms for businesses, individuals and brands. The platform is emerging as an inevitable means of communication in today’s business scenario. With more innovations, Twitter is likely to become accessible to all - even those without an Internet connection.

Tweeting Trouble

It seems users of Twitter are not fully aware of the consequences it can bring to their image. At least some of the recent instances prove so. As the popularity of the Twitter rises, it emerges as a weapon for political parties, community groups, and rivals. If you think you can tweet whatever you want because you have a million followers to support you, you are wrong. Remember there can be an enemy tweeter for you and you should be prepared to face millions of axes from the other side.

In India, a popular politician - a fan of Twitter - enjoyed tweeting inside stories of his ministry as well as those out of his area of business. He fell victim to his ‘popular’ act. He tweeted, and in response, his rival also tweeted, following which a flood of sharp swords was exchanged, and the result: Both of them are out of their seats now.

The tweet conversation, however, brought thousands of fans for the minister from within and outside the country. He was quoted as the next-generation minister. However, his followers are a bit disappointed now that he’s no more a minister.

Whom to blame?