We are what we Tweet- How Twitter is changing the face of Marketing
Twitter, the micro-blogging phenomenon that has swept the world, has changed the perceptions associated with social media by expanding its wings into many areas including marketing. Professionals and Twitterers alike believe the beauty of Twitter is that it provides real-time public information in a casual, conversational manner.
As a business and marketing tool many professionals acknowledge the benefits of social media sites. “One on one communication with customers is ultimately where the appeal lies” Monash University Marketing lecturer, Peter Wagstaff says. He suggests that the ‘higher level of involvement’ that a customer gets from social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook allows greater engagement with the brand and encourages the customer to choose that brand later down the track. A key point in effective use of social mediums is the ability to integrate into the consumer’s world.
“Anything that can fit in with what people are talking about can be marketed within social media” Wagstaff says. “Traditional interruptive marketing does not work in a social medium; you need to be part of the conversation”. Social currency plays a major part in whether social media marketing will have an effect, giving people ‘something of value’ that they can share with others. Wagstaff also says pin pointing ‘opinion leaders’ plays a critical role in spreading ‘the word’ about a product or a brand in the social sphere. “Social media functions well when used in an integrative manner, as part of a TV advertising campaign or with an ad on the side of a tram”. He believes this is the future for social media as a marketing medium, “Communicating the same message in a multitude of ways”.
New, innovative ways of using and marketing yourself with Twitter are constantly being discovered. “I have been told repeatedly by publishers that my books are publishable – but not marketable,” Children’s author, Louise Curtis said. “So I decided to find my own market”- insert Twitter. Curtis said her endeavors to get published had been unsuccessful and she was looking for a way to spread the word about her books. ‘Twitter-tales’ a concept used by Curtis, is still relatively new, but she believes the ‘Twitter-sized’ pieces of story, told in real-time, make an easy reading alternative to the traditional book. “A lot of authors are experimenting with twitter fiction because it’s a different way of telling a story” she said. “I use Twitter to let people have a taste of what my books will be like”.
Curtis believes the trend in authors using social media sites can be attributed to the difficulty in finding a publisher. “Once we get a few rejections we realise getting published is difficult”. Whether her ‘twitter-tales’ are effective is hard to measure. She says ‘In Twitter terms I have 2000 followers [across Twitter and Facebook] and a solid blog following, which is a good beginning”.
“If 10% of the followers bought a book, that’s two hundred books that wouldn’t otherwise have been read – and if they like them and each recommend the book to two others, that’s another 400 people interested” she says. “Books are like McDonald’s – people buy something that’s mediocre rather than taking a risk and buying something that might be wonderful”. Curtis believes a ‘strong web presence’ will be an asset in her search to find a publisher “it helps readers to feel they know a writer, and therefore feel comfortable buying their books”.
Most digital marketing agencies now provide social media development as part of their core services, acknowledging social media as a valid form to market. “Twitter like any social media platform is only as good as the quality of your connected ‘tribe’” said Director of 2 Sticks Digital Marketing, Tim Martin. He says “Promoting a book via social media is fundamentally no different from any organisation or individual promoting any product or service”. “The trick is that there is no easy trick for anybody” he suggests.
Curtis agrees that social media ‘is all about networking’. While professionals are not entirely convinced her ‘Twitter-tales’ method will work in the way she hopes, she claims that ‘it will make a huge difference in the first month of sales’. “That will give me a foot in the door, which is the hardest part”. Twitter has enabled consumers and businesses to connect in a way that was previously not possible.
The best lecturer right there. Pow.