My first blog posting... well here it is... for those of you who know me, you may not rejoice nor hear angels heralding in the heavens because you are probably thinking: oh no, he has another forum for him to rant and rave... well - too bad. After much cajoling from KT and Goo, I am now an official blogger.
Here is my first rant: Why is Twitter so hot?
I swear, every client is calling me up and asking about 'Twitter' and what we can do with it.
My answer (and will remain so until someone can prove otherwise) is that 'Twitter' is not for everyone. Yes it can be an effective marketing tool but, we as marketers, must use it 'correctly'.
'Correctly'?????? Bah humbug... I can just hear the collective scream of my fellow digiteers. What the heck is doing it 'correctly'... 'we must test and learn'.... and 'it's really cool'... etc. etc. etc.
Well, yes I agree since no one really has used it enough to define 'correct' and is it the current big thing 'that we must all embrace or die' OR is it the latest marketing fad? I personally think it's the latter not the former (until someone gets it right of course).
Let me briefly explain what I mean...
I love data (yes I am a geek). Am very proud of being one. I am especially proud of being a data geek. I love data. Social media/platforms will eventually offer the 'ultimate' data source for all us data geeks out there. Frankly speaking, it's already there. Overlay the right data-mining tools on top of it and we can really get some great info. Hence I do believe that Twitter will grow into something sexy and viable as a direct marketing tool. But not yet.
When clients ask me this question, my answer is 'do you have a story?' My humble (wink) opinion is that without a story to tell, there is no point going into a social platform much less something so 'immediate' as Twitter. What do I mean by story? Well, if all you want is a quick blast out to 'your consumers' to talk about the latest offers from your company (even if it is LBS-ed) then i think you are missing the boat. Why does someone WANT to hear 'instantly' about your offers even if I am 20 feet away from that spa you just gave me a 20% discount to go to? Would you do it if you got the blast? Probably not (if the blast is so untargeted as this)... I sure wouldn't.
So if this is the case, then why would anyone do it? Why would you want to use something like Twitter to blast out messages? Wouldn't it be better (and less annoying for generally everyone) if you use Twitter to blast out messages that people find useful? Hence my question 'do you have a story'?
The reason why I proclaim (hear the trumpets) that Twitter is 'not yet' is because I want to discourage marketers who see it as the 'ultimate 1-to-1' tool for today. I don't want them to 'test and learn' yet. I don't want anyone messing with it until it gets more mature... when the data that is inherent to the tool is available and we digiteers can bring a solid offering to our clients. If we go and spoil this new potentially powerful tool... and piss off the consumers who are really 'twittering' now then we are just shooting ourselves in the foot in the long run because they are just going to get tired and move on.
I really hope they don't... I really really really really want to get that data.
Talk soon.
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ReplyDeleteI feel that any twitter followers gained on your brand will be a valuable asset, as they would have actively sought for you, seen a portion of the tweets and must have liked what they saw before ever clicking on the "follow" button.
ReplyDeleteSo in essence, they really are great potentials for being brand ambassadors, or at least primed to speak for the brand should such a need arise.
Of course, then the question returns to: what should be done on twitter to get that kind of following?