Marketing Metrics, Messaging, and Madness

Using Twitter to Stay Ahead of the Competition

If there is one great thing about Twitter, it is the competitive analysis that can be accomplished by following your competitors and their distributors. By following competitor's Tweets I can find out instantly when a new sale has gone live, if they've released any new features, are working with a site I didn't know about, or even about trade shows that I may not have known about otherwise.

Out of the few people following each of these companies/distributors is the information they give up to us really outweighed by announcing a sale to 50-100 people?  

Another great way to follow the competition is to set up feeds for any mention of competitor names on Twitter. We've all done it for years on Google, but this is a must-not-miss opportunity to find out what others are saying about your competition (as well as you).

Twitter and Facebook are Not Necessary For Every Marketing Initiative

"What does it mean that none of Apple’s demos today involved Twitter or Facebook, the hottest two sites on the Internet? It means Apple hasn’t internalized the social networks craze...Instead, Apple’s onstage ignorance of social networking shows how slow-moving and out of touch the company can be. It’s easy to find Microsoft shortcomings to mock. It’s harder to recognize your own." This was written by Paul Boutin at VentureBeat in his article 'The Three Things Apple Didn't Say'.

Thank goodness. A company that doesn't find it necessary to Twitter in their demonstration. Maybe they see the future of companies trying to find a way to use Twitter and know that the future is bleak. I've tried following several companies that are noted for their "compelling" Twitter posts, but let's face it...they just aren't that compelling. None of the ongoing content is keeping me involved. I'm a Mileage Plus whore, so I read the posts from United, and aside from the Twitter Fares (twares? ugh.) I scan the posts but don't read anything of interest. Would I be willing to fill up Twitter by following five companies? six? More likely one or two. You'd better be giving me something of interest to stay in the top two.

I understand Boutin's point that a Twitter demonstration would have been a good fit with the iPhone's ability to post video and photos easily on these sites, but I don't know of an iPhone/Twitter user that doesn't get that fact without having to be hit over the head with the fact. 

I guess what brings this post up is that right now, I feel hit over the head by Twitter. I attended a search engine summit last week and heard over and over how you aren't creating a full marketing campaign without working Twitter into the mix.  While I see a definite place for incorporating Twitter or Facebook into a marketing campaign when it is a fit - especially when trying to reach your advocates - it is not a necessity for every campaign.  I didn't hear anything about the fit of the audience to the sites, just repeated jokes about "finding your voice" on Twitter. 

My company has a Facebook Fan site where we enjoy posting engaging content, but it is to build the loyalty of the advocates, not to try to be cool. Not to try to prove that we "get" social media. And not to (blatantly) sell products. It's to have a truly useful site for our customers. It's not there yet, but hopefully we're getting there.

Thank you, Apple, for not being as obvious as to include Twitter in your presentation. This is one of your advocates that appreciates it.

Ineffective Use of Twitter by a Business

I've been watching a company that seems to have decided that they will devote their entire marketing budget on social marketing - especially Twitter.  They are a smaller player in their industry, but produce a high-quality product. Unfortunately they've never put the effort into marketing that the rest of the industry has. Yes the monetary investment in Twitter is low, but think about how much time you have to devote to posting the content.  If after three months of constant twitters you have only 25 people following you, it's time to rethink your marketing plan. How many of those people are employees, distributors or competitors? Calculate it out and you'll find the worst ROI of any of your marketing initiatives.

I stay away from Twitter for one reason, and one reason only: time.  I think our company has enough name recognition now that we could get people following us by providing industry news and comments that provide value, but as a marketer in a small company, I just can't devote the resources that would be necessary. If there is one thing that quickly becomes a time suck, it's having to come up with original content to post. We run across it with our newsletter and e-newsletter, as well as providing new technical articles about our machinery every month and a free downloadable file. After the third or fourth month, it's time consuming to think up new ideas every month, much less every day. And you can only post so many links to your online videos. If you're not willing to devote time to writing content that is interesting and engaging, no one will be following you for long. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is watching a company misuse social marketing. I think there is a right and a wrong way for a business to use a blog or twitter to expand their marketing, but it astounds me how badly it is used sometimes.

A few examples:

• Linking to a video that your company has posted on youtube and pretending you just "ran across it". People aren't stupid.
• Calling out a competitor that is following your Twitter.  You're in the public domain, get over it.  Guess what, I check out your website as well.  And your e-newsletter. And you watch mine as well.
• Pointing out what keywords you're targeting and celebrating when you get to #1. Really?  You're going to tell me that?  I'll happily take that position away from you in a month or so. 
• Having other people in your company comment on your postings and pretending they have no relationship to the company.

Be honest and provide something of value and people will follow you. Do the things above, and we'll just mock you.  ;)