Only a little more than 30 days ago my team at Bridge Worldwide and I entered the “Twittersphere” by creating an account in this fast-growing social networking tool. As I wrote previously, the main rationale for Twittering was to provide additional, meaningful content related to our Marketing with Meaning concept.  Instead of just two to three blog posts a week, I figured that believers in our mission would appreciate more, shorter examples. Little did I know that it would provide us with a great deal of benefits as well.

Frankly, I have to admit that I had purposely avoided Twitter for a while. In this business there are so many new technologies out there that you could waste a lot of time following failed ideas. In my brief look-sees at the technology, I also saw too many examples of posts like “just ate pancakes.” But the chance to provide meaningful marketing for our readers was too tempting to ignore.

Overall, I can definitely say that I’m loving Twitter and I think some version of it is here to stay. Over the past week especially, I feel like I felt back in the days when I first started reading blogs, or when I first found RSS feeds, or even when I first got on email. In the early days of such technologies, there is a common feeling that you have discovered something amazingly useful and interesting - something that will improve the quality of your life.

In terms of an assessment of Twitter, I really like Forrester’s take in the book Groundswell, where the company uses a tool to evaluate new digital marketing tools, and gives this service a thumbs-up.  Here’s my take:

What Works

• Accelerates the spread of knowledge (both ways) - There is a very rich stream of news and links that members share with each other. I’ve discovered some great data and case studies that I would not have found otherwise. It is also a powerful way for me to share Marketing with Meaning examples, which is helping to drive record traffic to this blog.
• Reaches the most advanced digital thinkers - In marketing this concept and the book, our general target is anyone who is responsible for marketing or agencies who work for marketers. But there is a more core group of digital influencers who will do the most to spread the word. They are the ones who the mass of marketers (and media) look to for suggestions on what’s new and important.  And they are all over Twitter. I really like the Twitter social etiquette that people should always give credit, and almost always follow whomever follows you.
• Creates new opportunities for partnership - I have just dipped my toe into the water of actually using Twitter to ask for specific help, but the community is often sending notes asking for examples, facts, or people connections. Just the other day someone in my network saw an exchange between a friend of mine and me about a specific marketing program, and out of the blue a person related to the company offered to arrange an interview for our book!
• Add-ons keep the service improving - There are countless tools that you can use to make Twitter more effective, which will keep advancing the usefulness of the service. I really like TweetDeck (better interface), SocialOne (allows auto-messaging for new followers), Twitter Search (find people easily), and Mr. Tweet (helps you find people with similar interests).  Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for great guidance on these.

Improvement Needed

• It’s marketing to the choir - The biggest downside for me is that everyone I tend to see is a fellow social/digital maven of some kind. So this is not where I’m going to be able to reach the general  marketer we need to connect with. I know of only two of my agency clients on Twitter, Kevin and Dave.
• Still lots of junk out there - Some Twits are interesting, and a lot are not. I think the community is still feeling out what is appropriate to share and what isn’t. But I’d like the signal-to-noise factor to be a lot better. And with all the noise coming through I know that I’m missing lots of really good links and comments.
• Huge time suck if you let it be - In the week since getting TweetDeck, a tool that makes your feeds much easier to follow, I have felt myself spending far too much time on this thing. It is addictive to “surf the community” with Twitter, similar to how some people find Facebook.

I am very, very excited about how Twitter will help us bring our Marketing with Meaning concept and upcoming book into the market successfully. We have more than 200 followers now and people keep finding us every hour or two. I can tell that this audience believes in the concept, and that they will use their network to share it with others. I am even more excited by the chance to recruit true believers who will take on the challenge of making the marketing they work on more meaningful.

Whether you’re new to Twitter or a seasoned veteran, check us out at: https://twitter.com/mktgwithmeaning.

(Updated link from Seth Godin - adds to this theme of this post, in that TV is a broadcast, push medium)

If you’re an avid marketing blog reader and writer like me, you probably logged on this morning and were surprised to read about the debacle for the Motrin brand around its new 45-second commercial.  Many people are offering advice and lessons, but let me be the first to say this and other inevitable controversies will destroy the TV commercial marketing model.

In case you haven’t heard the buzz, here’s a summary of the Motrin issue: Its new ad (above) attempts to connect with moms by talking about how some people “wear their babies” in things like wraps and Baby Bjorns (my wife’s choice for our kids, btw). The ad is an attempt by Motrin to convince mothers that the brand “feels their pain.” But a certain, very vocal set of moms is inflicting pain on the brand. They find the language of the ad offensive, and they have started a “Twitter Storm” of sharing their anger with friends and followers. The brand has since taken down its entire website, and is sending a letter to some angry customers.

Many important mom and marketing bloggers have hit on key lessons. For example, Dave Knox makes the great point that brands must continually monitor what people are saying about their brand. And Karoli wonders why the brand didn’t test this ad in some focus groups that have… um… moms with babies. Adam Kmiec counters that the brand team lacks courage.

But I think the “meta lesson” here is that this shows how hard it is to win with interruptive commercials. Let me first say that I’ve been there. Working on the Tide brand at P&G, I made a few ads that pissed people off. We ran a campaign called “Family Ties” with commercials that showcased family challenges, and how Tide could help solve problems and increase bonds. A lot of people loved the ads, but we always got our fair share of angry letters. People complained when we portrayed an interracial couple, and again when we featured a 40-something new mom. With each occasion we huddled as a team to consider our reaction and whether to pull the plug or not. We survived each scare, but this was back in the late ’90s, before the modern media world arrived…

Today, both general consumer groups and special interests have powerful tools at their disposal. Blogs, discussion boards, and Twitter are now used to spread and incite anger quickly. Search results keep the mistakes top-of-mind for years.

And while the pressure from consumers increases, the need to be noticed is forcing advertisers to take more risks. Brands are buying edgy creative that catches attention above the other 3,000 ads we see each day. And while they might connect with their majority target market, they end up inciting the vocal minority groups (who never asked to have the ad shoved in their faces).

The result is inevitable: GM is blasted for showing a robot that commits suicide. Snickers pulls its ad in which two guys accidentally kiss, and another with Mr. T firing candy at an effeminate jogger. State Farm pulled an ad that humiliated people who bike to work. There is even an organization called Fathers and Husbands that regularly protests ads that make fun of white male men.

What should the GMs, Snickers, State Farms, Motrins, and every other mass marketer of the world do about this constant, growing risk of angering an ever-more-vocal percentage of the population? It’s simple: Stop working to create the perfect 30-second story to interrupt them, and start figuring out ways to add value to their lives.

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