There has been so much talk about Twitter lately that there isn't a day that goes by were you don't read someone's point of view about the micro-blogging site. Today there was quite a few articles that I tweeted about so I thought I share them with you here.
First there was this commentary on Media Post's Online Media Daily blog written by Will Akerlof who's president of Liquid Advertising Inc., a marketing agency based in Venice, California. Will doesn't seem to think that Twitter will really change marketing and he started off his post with the following "A couple of years from now, we'll look at Twitter as another online flash in the pan that the press and digerati got all excited about until they found the next new thing." Hmmm...he thinks we'll soon be embarrassed to be tweeting right now since all of us internet marketing folks are really just talking to each other.
Another point that Will makes is that Twitter is not particularly young or hip. In the March 2009 Nielsen Netview, Twitter has an index of 40 against the demographic of kids 12-17, and below-average index against full-time students. The highest indexing demographic group on Twitter is Males 35-49 (167). Well Twitter is still fairly new and if you read my post on the Digital Moms Survey that I wrote last week it shows just how powerful social media is with women who are the major purchasers online. What influences them the most? Product recommendations made on social networks and from bloggers. Now most bloggers today are not teens or full-time students. They may have started out being predominately male but now have shifted to include many women with "mommy bloggers" being a major force.
So you can read Will's post which he goes on to make other points to help reinforce his case that Twitter is mainly just a fad along with the many comments from those adding their perspectives. So yes, I do agree with Will in a way. Twitter will not change marketing. I still believe in the basic principals that apply to marketing and it's the way you use the social media tools that we have at our disposal today that can help marketers succeed or fail.
The next article I read was this one from Ad Age which was all about how this one local pizza joint was highly successful utilizing a Twitter promotion that brought in 150% of a recent day's business. Now did you notice the word "promotion"? Yes, it wasn't just Twitter alone, it was integrating it with promotional marketing that made it a success.
Naked Pizza in New Orleans had been marketing itself via the microblogging service and in a test run April 23 an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day's business. "Every phone call was tracked, every order was measured by where it came from, and it told us very quickly that Twitter is useful," said Jeff Leach, the restaurant's co-founder. "Sure, there's the brand marketing and getting-to-know-you stuff. ... But we wanted to know: Can it make the cash register ring?"
Mr. Leach targeted people within a three-mile radius of his store and erected a billboard outside his location publicizing Naked Pizza's Twitter handle. It was a simple price promotion that they blasted on Twitter ...Large pizza with one topping only $5.95! But you had to mention Twitter to get that price. Twitter now has contacted Mr. Leach and he's going to be working with the company to beta test some applications for small businesses.
The same article also talks about Michael Farah, founder and CEO of Berry Chill, a yogurt shop with three Chicago locations. Mr Farah was using Twitter to send out "Sweet Tweets" -- promos that require users to show they're Twitter followers of the store. In a month, he's logged 700 followers and, he said, "sweet tweets" haven't diminished his daily sales.
"Our last big promotion we gave away 1,100 yogurts -- $5,500 worth of product -- but sales were the same as the day before," he said. "The people who were existing customers standing in line attracted people who hadn't tried it."
Now the third article I read today actually ran last week on PROMO Magazine that reported on Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa that gave Away 96 rooms in 90 Minutes via Twitter. Again they had a great promotion which was in honor of their 96th year in operation and choose Twitter to get the word out.
Followers were informed that the first 96 callers who dialed a toll-free number would win a free one-night stay in the historic resort’s Mountain View accommodations. Within fewer than 90 minutes, all 96 of the giveaway rooms had been claimed.
“It was amazing how fast they went,” said Jay Winer, a spokesperson for the privately owned resort. “The displays on the phone banks kept showing ‘Twitter’ to mark the 1-800 number we used specifically for this promotion.” Many of those getting the Twitter message and calling in were new followers re-tweeting the offer to their friends, he pointed out.
Grove Park's Twitter promotion was just one part of an interactive promotional campaign designed to generate buzz in social media. They launched a highly interactive Web site several months ago themed as “Grove’s Magical Elixir 2.0” which picks up on the notion that before founding his hotel in 1913, the real-life Edwin Wiley Grove was an apothecary who got rich selling potions such as “Grove’s Tasteless Tonic.” They also posted a video to YouTube in an attempt to tap into viral media.
So is Twitter the new marketing? No, but it is a really interesting new way to communicate a promotional campaign. You just have remember to include a good offer or incentive that's targeted to the right audience. But we all know that now, don't we?
Great, balanced approach to this topic, Donna! I completely agree that Twitter isn't the new marketing, but it definitely offers some interesting new twists on marketing. In general, I think Twitter is a good complement to many marketing campaigns (like the local pizza restaurant in the Ad Age example), but it's certainly not the only marketing channel a business should be using.
One of the things I like best about Twitter is that it allows for a lot of inexpensive experimentation. A business can try a promotion using Twitter, see what works and what doesn't, and learn from it for next time. It doesn't cost them anything to try.
Posted by: Jenn Deering Davis | May 21, 2009 at 05:49 PM