As regular readers have probably noticed, I’ve been posting less frequently in the past couple of weeks. My goal is to have three entries per week, but I’ve dipped down to one to two lately. Don’t worry; I have not run short of content and I think this is a temporary situation driven by a burst of travel and new business work in my day job. But I do wish there were a way to keep the conversation going when these periodic time crunches happen.
Today I had an “aha” moment when Alex Rolfes, my right-hand man at Bridge Worldwide on this project, asked me if I would be interested in setting up a Twitter account for Marketing with Meaning. My first thought was, “Why?” For those who have not run across this yet, Twitter is a service that allows you to send and read short (140 characters) comments throughout the day. Think of it as “micro-blogging.” I have been watching Twitter from afar for some time. Working in a digital agency means we have to stay ahead on new media concepts like this. I have a few friends and clients who are Twittering, but I have not jumped in myself yet. I haven’t gotten in mainly because I don’t see the use for my life.
Some brands have gotten into the Twittering game with mixed results and commitment. Delta Airlines got some positive buzz when it suddenly started Twittering last year. Alas, their feed has been untouched since May 2007, lasting a whole 30 entries. I found their Twits interesting but random. On the other hand, some brands seem be using their Twitter feeds for focused, meaningful purposes. For example, Dell has a price deal alert; the BBC is using it for news alerts; and Barack Obama is using it to communicate where in the world he is campaigning every day. All of these examples offer valuable information within the benefits of the Twitter format.
Overall, my early take is that Twitter is a useful tool when a brand has something short, fast, and meaningful to say to its audience. For the Marketing with Meaning brand, our marketing objective is to drive awareness and adoption of our core concept. I think Twitter could help us do this. First, short, fast, meaningful observations and examples will help us share our message under my personal time constraints. Second, I believe that our audience (you) finds it meaningful to receive these short bursts of content on a frequent basis. We will judge the results over time based on the number of subscribers and comments received. At worst, we’ll learn together about this new medium….
I’m looking forward to the experiment and hope that you will join our feed!
Here’s our URL: https://twitter.com/mktgwithmeaning
Bob,
Just wondering what you think of Doritos banner takeover campaign in relation to Marketing with Meaning.
Cool – just signed up to follow! We’ve got just about everyone in our shop on their individual Twitter accounts, and we also launched a Twitter feed to aggregate all of our blog posts across our design, marketing, strategy and development blogs. http://www.viget.com/blog/follow-viget-on-twitter-if-you-want-to/
Bob,
Great to see you guys Twittering.
I have really wanted to Twitter more as well, but I am a bit turned off by constantly having to be “out there”. I still prefer to pick. choose and reflect a bit on the blog before putting my quick thoughts out there on Twitter…though I have done a decent job of keeping my Facebook status updated.
Thanks for joining, guys. I think you’re right, Ryan J., that this might actually be another form of pressure. But I’ll try to keep it 100% focused on short observations and info related to the Marketing With Meaning concept. That way people can feel like they are right alongside us as we try to spread the revolution.
Ryan M., I’m curious how you are using Twitter among employees…
If a Brand is being engaged in the social space then twitter is a must since it can be used to have a dialogue with the users. Twittering gives a different meaning to a brand since now it has this personable front that as a consumer I can actually engage with.
Wachovia uses it not only for messaging but also as a means of reaching out to prospects. Their “Share your Thank you story” is a great example of this.
Bob – “Twitter is a useful tool when a brand has something short, fast, and meaningful to say to its audience.”
Twitter is definitely just a utility…it does not cure disease or change the world. But I think that suggesting Twitter is just another broadcast tool is selling it short. My Twitter feed is a mix of broadcast/mkt myself, along with quick posts on things I find interesting that I want to share and conversation with other folks. The engagement with others is the real opportunity with Twitter.
Ryan is right that there is a perception one needs to be out there constantly. But I tell people that Twitter is a stream you can jump in and out of when you want. You do not have to jump in the stream and catch every fish that swims by.
Hopefully this does not read snippy. It’s fun to discuss these things as they unfold and the above is snark-free.
Cheers
http://twitter.com/prblog
I agree with Kevin’s point of being able to jump in and out of when you want. That is the beauty of it from an end user perspective. You can share an insight, thought, news or be a recipient. Each interaction is a different slice of pie.
If a tweet is meaningful enough to capture your interest within 140 characters then you pursue the topic of interest further. Until then the summaries suffice.
Bob – Following up on your question about how we use Twitter … Most everyone on our team already is using Twitter, and we simply wanted to integrate each person’s Twitter feed into our site. Clicking on person’s profile will open up their bio, along with their blog and Twitter feed: http://www.viget.com/about/team/.
Thanks, Ryan, great way to show the real people behind the company.
Ahh … but have you noticed that the CocaCola twitter is held and under review. There is push back from those who are early adopters that they would prefer brands not use the technology. Delivering value to the customer through a channel of their choice in a non intrusive way is key to success … and not getting your account frozen.
Randal, tell us more about the Coca-Cola twitter issue. Sounds interesting but I can’t find the story. Thanks!
Hi Bob,
Just found an intriguing use of Twitter by none other than our own county municipality. Hamilton County Public Health division is using Twitter engage citizens and keep them up to date on health related issues:
http://twitter.com/HamCoHealth
In a time when many people seem disengaged from what government is actually doing, I think this use of Twitter adds tremendous value and meaning to our lives. It is also really neat to see a technology evolution like Twitter being adopted and utilized by the government.
All the best,
Chad