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 Twitter, the micro-blogging phenomenon, is shaking up the messaging world with its ability to carry short, punchy blurbs to thousands of people. It's also an excellent way to listen in on what customers, prospects and influencers are saying about your brand. Are you leveraging these insights to help drive your company's success?
Twitter creates a viral, two-way marketing environment
Twitter’s free Web-based service allows users to "follow" friends, celebrities, average Joes, companies, products and even blogs. From every feed they're following, users receive messages and updates of 140 characters or less.
Companies of all sizes are increasingly catching the buzz, launching their own Twitter sites and initiatives. These early adopters understand that this highly viral environment is ripe to share information and learn. They use it to gain and maintain competitive edge, build brand, provide product updates and introduce special offers. Some even establish multiple channels for individual product lines or geographic regions.
Twitter's reach and increasing popularity is unmistakable, with 17 million U.S. visitors in April, according to comScore. Since one tweet can swiftly reach thousands of Twitter followers, companies can very quickly generate a fair amount of interest and demand for their latest products or services.
Lyris' Twitter feed, for example, includes our recent tweet about new Twitter-monitoring functionality in Lyris HQ. This prompted close to 200 tweets from followers who, in some cases, rebroadcast (also known as “re-tweeted”) the news on their own Twitter feeds, spreading the message to potentially many more thousands.
But Twitter isn't all sweetness and light. Consumers are equally apt to vent freely about what they don’t like and to praise what they do in this essentially public forum. Unlike Facebook and MySpace, where a lot of the conversations take place behind the closed doors of private profiles or nonpublic groups of friends, most tweets are out in the open and easily searchable. When users bash your brand, the bad reviews can spread like fire. Similarly, a couple of good recommendations from customers and key followers can spur prospects to knock on your door in no time.
That is why the savviest companies realize that Twitter is more than a one-way marketing channel. This new era of 21st-century marketing requires us to move beyond a “push” mentality with audiences and adopt a more interactive and engaging mindset that places a higher premium on relationship-building and market sensing.
Harnessing Twitter's marketing intelligence
That’s one reason we wholeheartedly encourage companies to adopt an intelligent, committed Twitter strategy that's all about learning what your customers, prospects and influencers are saying about you, your competitors and your industry – and to then respond appropriately.
It can be unfamiliar territory for marketers to spend time reading and thinking about what people are saying in real-time – but we believe it’s now a competitive requirement to build community in our connected world. It shows your customers that you are listening and care about their feedback.
Twitter makes it exceptionally easy to tap into conversations that matter, simply by typing in your company name or other keywords in the search box. You’ll instantly see the most recent tweets and related links about your company, product and people, as well as the interesting and relevant market trends that impact your business.
Lyris HQ makes it easy, too. When users log-in to our integrated marketing suite, there's a running Twitter feed with a built-in search box that lets you actively track and respond to Twitter discussions in real time. Users can quickly monitor relevant conversations and, if appropriate, take action on issues and engage as needed.
Lyris HQ makes it easy to respond to real-time tweets about your company.
Five ways to get the most out of Twitter
1. Monitor what people are saying.
Your company likely gets mentioned frequently within Twitter posts. Eavesdropping on the conversations between customers, prospects and influencers can provide valuable insights. Who is chattering about your brand and what are they saying? What are analysts and other key stakeholders vocalizing about your industry? The list of tweets may surprise you. Commit to monitoring this feedback stream each day, or at least regularly. You'll know more quickly when people are happy – and when they're not.
2. Establish a process to route actionable tweets to relevant departments.
As part of your Twitter strategy, you should put predetermined guidelines in place for how you'll respond to the information you find. For example, you might forward constructive comments or complaints to customer service, marketing, product management, or even the executive team for appropriate follow-up. The process might require initial routing to a specific person or team that's responsible for escalating insightful tweets to the appropriate department heads.
3. Make the most of positive or constructive tweets.
Once the tweet is correctly routed, commit to action. Companies can obviously benefit from knowing how they can better engage and serve customers, prospects and influencers. They can also prosper by using constructive criticism to make the right changes in products or services. To encourage constructive comments, you can thank or acknowledge these users publicly on your Twitter feed or privately through a function called “direct messaging.”
Also, don't forget to listen to what people say about your competitors and partners. For example, users may love another company's product and discuss a new feature they would like to see. That might encourage you, as a competitor, to include this feature in your product.
4. Follow both happy and unhappy tweeters.
Unfavorable tweets can do immediate damage to your bottom line. When these serious rants threaten your brand, consider following these detractors on Twitter. This tactic demonstrates to users that you're receptive and listening, and in some cases, this simple act alone can help minimize dissatisfaction.
Users who accept your request to follow their Twitter feeds often open themselves up to receiving private messages, which can help you learn more about their specific issues or needs. If they reject your request and continue to bash your brand, try to reach them through some other channels to discuss their issues or needs. Every company will have a different tolerance level and response plan for dealing with negative tweets. Sometimes, after considerable effort to communicate, tough skin is the only response.
5. Head off the unexpected – ASAP.
Recently, a much-publicized video of employees defiling a pizza chain's food was seen by millions of viewers over several days, hurting the company's brand, share price, and presumably, sales. With closer monitoring, the company could have known that thousands of people were tweeting about the video and initiated damage control a day or two sooner. By the time the CEO responded, much harm had been done. However, the company was shrewd to post its response video on YouTube and its Twitter site to bolster public confidence. This is an extreme example, but certainly proof that social-media networking has become a force in modern society to monitor, share and measure conversations and content online that can help and hurt your brand.
For more tips, read The Lyris Team’s First 100 Days on Twitter - Plus: 10 Twitter Tips.
Register for our June 17 webinar, Social Media Marketing: CPR for Email Marketers in a Challenging Economy.
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