I’ve had some interesting conversations recently with companies wondering if they should be using Twitter. After explaining how Twitter works and why it has grown so much over the past year, I quickly recommend that companies, especially consumer-facing entities, should absolutely use Twitter.
To me, the question of whether or not to adopt Twitter is not that much different than the process that many companies went through about blogging a few years ago. These days, blogs are seen as an important part of a company’s communications and marketing arsenel – and, in time, Twitter will likely follow the same path from reluctance to acceptance.
Like any social media tool, companies need to use Twitter in the right way if they want it to be a success.
By “right way”, the focus needs to be on the audience a company wants to serve/reach as opposed to Twitter being used a blatant marketing or sales tool. When a company posts something on Twitter, they need to ask themselves “Is this adding something of value?”. Value can be defined as news, new features, links to useful information, etc.
While it seems like a straightforward approach, many companies are struggling with Twitter on two fronts.
One, they’re struggling with how to use Twitter, and what kind of things should be posted on it. It’s such a relatively new tool that the rules of engagement haven’t been well defined yet.
Second, companies are also trying to deal with why Twitter has become such a dynamic communications tool, and how the Twittersphere operates. There are many mechanical/operational issues that companies need to get their heads around such as who should handle Twitter (marketing, sales, public relations?), who/if to follow, etc.
Over time, these issues will disappear and Twitter will become another corporate branding tool. In the sh0rt-term, companies should get over their reluctance to get involved with Twitter. Within the social media world, experimentation is a key part of the process, and the sooner companies dip their toes in the water, the better.
Question: what companies are really taking advantage of Twitter, and what makes them successful.
Update: Paul Dunay has a post looking at companies that are using Twitter.
4 Comments
I encourage companies to use Twitter, but they have to revolutionize their thinking pattern. It isn't like throwing an ad in a paper. It's more like the CEO having a buffet brunch with company enthusiasts – there needs to be a face, a personality, and some two-way conversation. I mean, it's 140 characters, how much time does it take? And most of the time, it needs to be the head guy, not his secretary.
Twitter a succesfull branding tool, this depends on two things:
- Who are your customers?
- Do they use Twitter?
Twitter would be perfect for personal branding, I'm not so sure whether Twitter is powerfull enought to be considered a fullblown branding channel.
At the Film and Television Institute, we've just started using Twitter as a communication tool.
It's been greeted almost the same way that blogs were three years ago, but the implementation is a lot easier.
For us a non-proffit organisation promoting the film industry in Western Australia, it's within our scope to be highlighting new communication technologies and how they can be used.
I think the challenges for begining to use Twitter in a corporate arena are first working out if you have enough material, news, etc to be worthwhile. Secondly, how will you respond to clients who tweet back at you, and finally how will Twitter be different to you other communication channels.
When we communicate with clients on Facebook, it's much more informal than the tone the same news is released onto our website. I think Twitter will be a place once again for a slightly different tone and content. More casual and more posts of what is happening right now… a cool Director is chatting to people in the courtyard, just had an epiphany about Baz Luhrman, where is the best place to buy light bulbs? That kind of thing.
Isn't Twitter just another channel? We already have to many of those. Not only we have to much information, we also have to many channels. What makes Twitter different (fundamentally) than other channels?
Here's something about the Twitter demographics: http://www.nickburcher.com/search/label/twitter%2…Do we really need another branding tool to reach middle-aged males?