Twitter can be used as a marketing tool

22 September 2008 Ken Yeung View Comments

A lot of forums that I peruse that talk about social media and marketing have typically displayed a common question: “Can Twitter be used as an effective marketing tool?” I say that it can and it should be used. It’s just another way to form and shape the conversation people are having about you and your company’s product.

As a company representative, I would say that the best way to have a simple conversation with someone en masse is through Twitter. Considered a microblogging application, the 140 text character “tweet” will allow you to succinctly state what you want. When I say conversation, I’m not talking about “marketing-speak”, but rather having a dialog discussion to help show that it’s possible for a company to have a public conversation. There are many corporate companies that are using it right now…with JetBlue, Chicago Tribune, Burson Marsteller, and Comcast being one of several dozen common ones that come to mind.

Twitter has also been growing steadily in mainstream media as well, with local television stations and major networks adopting microblogging applications. CNN is one that has grown into Twitter with Rick Sanchez using it and also promoting its usage on live television as well. Anderson Cooper also uses it but with different intentions. Compared to Anderson Cooper, Rick Sanchez focuses on aggregating comments and news items from Twitter and broadcasts his findings when he’s on TV. Anderson Cooper uses it to promote topics on his show. As you can see, the marketability of having a presence on Twitter can vary based on your long-term goals.

Take email service provider, Blue Sky Factory, for example. In a great article by Jon Buscall today, he talksÂ more about Twitter’s marketability with CEO Greg Cangialosi and how they’re using Twitter. You can read the article and part of the interview with Debbie Weil here.

I think that what people are often worried about when using new technology like Twitter is the immediate ROI that they try and calculate. Interactive marketing has seemed to evolve past that. It’s no longer worrying about the marketing of a product, but rather focusing your time on the brand ambassadors. Getting your name where your audience potentially is and creating influencers are going to generate more business your way. Twitter is a means to communicate as a dynamic microblogging forum that will allow others to immediately reply back to you with their thoughts.

As a company, your “followers” are like fans on Facebook. They are either interested in what you have to say, you have something in common, or they’re your evangelists that will refer new people to you if they see an immediate connection. Debbie Weil’s blog post about her encounter with Greg Cangialosi perhaps describes it best:

Even more effective…is when a third party recommends your company via Twitter or in the blogosphere. When social media guru Chris Brogan mentions Blue Sky Factory, “we get a flood of inquiries,” Greg said. Chris has nearly 15,000 followers – people who have signed up to follow or read his every tweet. (Anything over 1,000 followers is considered an impressive following.)

So think of Twitter not just as a medium for you to list your deals and your ongoing promotions. You should because you definitely need to think about your bottom line, but also think of Twitter and social media as an extension of customer service and public relations. Like the saying goes “continue the conversation” and Twitter will help create more of those desired influencers and evangelists to promote new business.

View Comments »

Jon Buscall said:

Thanks for the link Kenneth. I appreciate it.

I think the important factor with Twitter when it comes to marketing is that you have to get the tone of your tweets right. I'm seeing a lot of spammy tweets which come across as just crude link bait.

I think where real Twitter marketing comes in is when companies like Blue Sky Factory actively take the conversation to clients and potential customers. It's about generating a meaningful dialogue rather than a case of “Hey, look at this”, don't you think?

# 26 September 2008 at 3:11 am

kyeung808 (author) said:

Jon -

I think that you're absolutely right. When engaging with social media tools like Twitter, you can't “force” your marketing efforts on your followers. It's like you said…you need to “actively take the conversation”. That's it: a conversation. These days it's not about instant sales, but forming rapport to create not only the sale, but brand foot soldiers that will go out in the world and on the web and spread the good word.

# 26 September 2008 at 10:54 am

Jared said:

Hey Ken, came across your blog on twitter.

So that being said Twitter can be used as an effective marketing tool. I watched a speech Gary Vaynerchuk gave from Wine Library TV. He said he gets asked a lot about what social networking platforms should be used and his response is every single one. Every platform gives you another opportunity to connect in some way with your customers which is what drives business. So twitter is just another platform that everyone should look to use because it is another way to stay in touch with customers.

Jared
@jotoole4

# 3 October 2008 at 1:51 pm

kyeung808 (author) said:

Jared –

Thanks for visiting my blog and hope you enjoyed reading what I write about. I agree that Twitter is just another platform that can enable a company to keep in touch with their customers. But I'm guessing that a majority of people STILL see it as a means of simply saying “I'm washing clothes” or “I just checked out the latest book from the library” or something to that effect. Companies are seeing people on Twitter write those types of things, but are not fully understanding the conversational power it has to effect the brand.

# 3 October 2008 at 8:51 pm

gargouri2001 said:

Nice write up and blog , Thanks for sharing all those good info

best regards
John
http://thenewsempire.com/Technologies/

# 14 October 2008 at 12:48 pm

Joseph Manna said:

Excellent entry, Kenneth. I agree that marketing over twitter is a great tool; however, the matter is in the message and Twitter users need to be sure they are being authentic, compassionate and maintain a high level of integrity in every Tweet they send.

I have a great supplement that relates to this blog entry on our company blog:
http://www.infusionblog.com/marketing-and-sales...

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
Joseph Manna
Infusionsoft

# 16 October 2008 at 2:11 pm

Joseph Manna said:

Excellent entry, Kenneth. I agree that marketing over twitter is a great tool; however, the matter is in the message and Twitter users need to be sure they are being authentic, compassionate and maintain a high level of integrity in every Tweet they send.

I have a great supplement that relates to this blog entry on our company blog:
http://www.infusionblog.com/marketing-and-sales...

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
Joseph Manna
Infusionsoft

# 16 October 2008 at 6:11 pm

Anonymous said:

Twitter can be used as a marketing tool…

Twitter can be used as a marketing tool…

# 5 November 2008 at 3:18 am