Target Marketing and the Twitter phenomenon.
All the world is a Twitter…or not. Whether you Tweet or don’t, I’m sure everyone knows of Twitter. People love it or hate it. I think hate it because they have not found the utility of how it fits in their lives. To the question ‘how effective is Twitter’, Brandweek posted an article citing a disconnect between marketers and the general public http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/digital/e3i00860fac3d23b30e71ca0d4c13545ce3#3 . Naturally, marketers can see the value, but people in general not so much. This is not so much a surprise to me as I suggested in an earlier blog-post that Twitter’s real value is more B2B marketing vs. B2C. Coincidentally, B2B magazine’s July 20th issue states 70% of B2B marketers use Twitter vs 46% of B2C marketers.
So why go on about this? Because as in all things marketing, everything starts with your target market. Your customer. Should a company Twitter? Only if your customers are on Twitter and value that communication tool. If your target market is ‘innovators’ or marketers, chances are you can reach them on Twitter. If your target market is High School or college students, maybe not so much (note that even more studies are out showing those age groups are still not all a Twitter). I am actually glad this debate rages on because, as a marketer, I find the statistics very useful. And I love watching the media’s use of blowing things out of proportion (i.e. ‘Twitter is over’)
I think Twitter is a fabulous learning tool and a great way to follow thought leaders. Now, if they can find a revenue generating model, it may be here to stay. Maybe they can sell the technology like Google sells their search ability?
What do you think?
Jackie
Categories: marketing tips,twitter marketing,target marketing
Tags: twitter target marketing
Jackie,
As usual, your entry has pulled me back into considering the relevancy of Twitter. Guess I fall on the side of the B2C folks in that it seems like an insignificant part of life to me and most the folks with which I speak. That said, I think your point about the B2B element of Twitter is worth taking another look. Thanks for continuing to pull me back into Twitterism.
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Always glad to help, Dan. I'll get you on Twitter one of these days so I can follow you.
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Which came first, Twitter or the tweet? By that I mean, if Twitter is to be a viable source for consumers, we must help drive them there by providing value and hyping its use. Think back to the website in the early 90's. Many said no one would go to a company's website, that they wanted information in other ways. How did that work out? Drive your customers with your @ address, encouraging them to be cool and find out info faster there, etc. Why not? The experimention is FREE.
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Tom, it's funny you wrote that because, as always, great minds... After I published my article, I was going to append with EXACTLY your comments. Consumers are not finding value because 1) maybe companies are not promoting their twitter address and 2) companies are not educating their customer on why they should be followed. What value will your customer have in following? Information? Promotions? What?
Grazie.
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Jackie:
I know the debate is on whether soemthing will come along and replace Twitter since a year ago you never would have posted a blog of this nature. Personally I think use of Twitter by Corporate America is in its infancy. What a great tool for team building (e.g., Sales to stay connected). I don't use Twitter in my company since I would be tweeting myself.
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Which is why we can Tweet each other.
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Me and my girlfriend come to your site very often. We love reading your posts. Thank you!
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