Hard to imagine though it is, there are still some firms who aren't among the tweeting classes. Here are some thoughts about why they might want to be.
To start with, let me admit that I, personally, am not on Twitter. (bbr marketing, of course, is @bbrmarketing.) And if you or your firm aren't either, that's perfectly okay with me. No judgment. We have our reasons and we're going to dispense with the "shocked and disappointed" portion of the discussion.
Among the Twitterati, there is sometimes a horrified exchange focused on what on earth we think we're doing, avoiding the medium. While that's irrelevant, these discussions can turn into a fruitful analysis of just how it is they think we could and should be benefitting from the platform.
Barry Feldman and Jason Falls, two respected names in marketing and social media, shared one of these conversations on MarketingProfs.com, and they make some good points we can look at to help us decide if perhaps we would like to hop on the Twitter bandwagon after all.
The perception of non-Twitter users is that we haven't explored its potential and thus may be miscategorizing it as a mere toy for narcissistic kids and celebrities. Though it does lend itself to the uses of those who wish to point out that their toenails are now of a slightly different hue, the platform can certainly be effective for following and sharing up-to-the-minute news. In fact, Twitter tends to perform beautifully as a crowdsourced news aggregator acting in real time the way no organized corporation can possibly match.
Though I don't participate in the conversation, I do use Twitter to keep up with news that often doesn't show up at all in other places, or if it does, comes later and appears to have been sculpted into a politically palatable version. Boots-on-the-ground reporting doesn't exist the way it once did, but with Twitter, you get an even more authentic inside view than was available back when major news agencies paid for on-the-scene reporters to go to where the action was. This time, however, it's delivered from everywhere at once, and by native reporters who were there at the onset and before.
Taking that a step further, we see that the absolutely current factor of Twitter brings all kinds of marketing opportunities for those who are quick on the uptake. Remember the wonderful Oreo tweet and others by brands that jumped on the power outage during the Super Bowl? And we mustn't forget the sheer ease of staying abreast of everything happening in your own industry that Twitter grants us.
Being completely up to date on breaking news - in your own industry and the wider world - not only keeps you in the know, it gives you a chance to weigh in and inform audience members who may not have heard yet. This achieves the dual goals of offering your audience useful information and utilizing the SEO power of the trending topic to help your voice go farther. Can you say thought leadership?
Okay, we have to grant that Twitter scores high in usefulness based on its timeliness, offering both access to current news and the opportunity to help your own brand status by further disseminating the news and adding relevant commentary. It gets major bonus points for giving us great marketing moments to take advantage of along the way.
In Part 2, we'll examine other aspects of Twitter's unique format. I'm not making an account yet but I am feeling distinctly more appreciative of the tool as I use it and as I see some brands use it. What about you?