Twitter is like the hype itself since its launch. Everybody's using it and this webservice smells like there's some great opportunity integrating it into communications planning and marketing strategies. But how can 140-words text improve brand reputation? What is the return on investment of such an application for brands and above all how can it become a competitive advantage using it? Not so easy to answer but after some use you'll discover Twitter is more useful and engaging that you may think, but only if associated with a blog and social media activity (see this post regarding social media activity).

More than being a kindergarten tool for geek C-level and influential bloggers, Twitter can useful for marketing campaigns, customer care, awareness and reputation. It's not easy to imagine when you never tried Twitter but I run the chance to explain it as simple as it is actually. There's few examples of brands actually using this webservice as a marketing tool (here's a list provided by Fluent Simplicity)but they're really interesting (but much more brand ambassadors and employees do use Twitter). David Armano posted on 2 companes using it, SouthWest Airlines (SouthWest Airlines Twitter) and Zappos (Zappos Twitter). Read/ Write Web wrote a more complete article, that is worth reading.

To go straight to the point, Twitter helps you increase your ability to get in touch with customers, to spread the word easily (be sure to have a connected community before asking things), improving your brand reputation and equity since you're giving some behind the scene informations. What can you do practically with that? Use Twitter as a notification system, a direct message information tool, a friendly messaging system (you can't write as much as in these marketing emails), time to time promotional messages, and community leading.

As a conclusion, Twitter gives brands, as a ROI item, opportunities to increase proximity and brand engagement with their consumers and interested people. But to obtain this ROI, brands need to prior create and grow a community. If you're not using Twitter as a communication tool, at least scan it every other days to see how people are speaking of you and what's being speaking about regarding keywords related to your business environment using Summize, Tweet Scan, Tweet Beep, Radian6, and others. Just for fun, check out Twitter Vision to see at any moment from where people are tweeting.

Resource:

Tweeting for companies 101 by Tara Hunt.

Newbie's guide to Twitter by WebWare

How to use Twitter by ProBlogger

You like this post? You should like these articles:

• Social Media + Consumer Opinion + Brand = opportunities brands have to join the conversation
• ROI + Blog + Social Media = joining the conversation as competitive advantage
• Social Media + Community = a new approach to creating customer loyalty
• Facebook + Campaign + Success = Tips to achieve a successful Facebook campaign

By Romain Péchard
Fast.Fwd.Innov@tion