The microblogging platform Twitter has had anything but a relaxing summer, plagued as it has been by outages, brownouts, disabilities, and new competition in the form of Plurk and others. But still, brands continue to invest time and energy building connections and communities there.
Take a look at this impressive list of brands on Twitter, put together by Jonathan Kash. (On Twitter, he’s @time2simplify.)
Scrolling through this list, separated by industry, gives you a sense of the breadth of businesses on Twitter, including media, book publishers, financial institutions, colleges and universities, airlines, nonprofits, cultural organizations, and more. In other words, they aren’t all social media consultants!
I’m not the first to predict a Twitter tipping point, but I do agree it’s near. Neville Hobson writes, “I don’t think we can doubt that a tipping point will happen. What will it look like?
“It will be something that tips a large number of people over and towards one particular service. That service will then dominate as everyone else joins in, largely deserting other services.”
p.s. Be sure to follow MarketingProfs on Twitter.
I’m one of the loyal Twitter users, and I’ve found it to be an invaluable tool for networking and getting more ideas for my blog and boutique.
Two days ago at Social Media Camp Boston, I led an impromptu session called “Should brands be Twittering?”
Answers were mixed.
One participant in my group, for example, was “creeped out” that brand-named Twitter accounts were following her and not making any effort to engage her in Twitter conversation.
Others suggested that the Twittering should be done not be @BrandName, but by @MaryAtBrandName.
Me? I’ve seen a number of variations work. I’m pleased to interact with @ComcastCares, but I don’t mind at all that @ESPN is just posting links to its website. As a sports fan, I often those links timely and helpful.
But you’re right: There’s no doubt that brands are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. I’ll continue to follow their efforts there with great interest.
Every day there’s a new use I find for Twitter… who knew such a “simplistic” tool could do so much?
Ann, I think Twitter and other sites that offer status reports are going to get a boost when Ping.fm goes online (in beta now). It allows you to update multible status updates on Twitter, Plurk and FaceBook.
As a brand you would be foolish not to explore these tools.
Thanks for the comments, all.
@Anna Nice to see you here as well as on Twitter!
@Nick Agreed… I was a Twitter skeptic for a long time. But I’ve since changed my mind.
@Harry I’ve used Ping.fm and find it useful as a broadcast tool — not so much as a conversation tool. But I haven’t explored it fully. But good point.
@Bryan I think the issue you raise is an interesting one, and one that a lot of brands are probably struggling with. What if a company designates person as its Twitter voice, and that person gets hit by a bus (or something less dramatic… but you know what I mean). Or is it ok just to use Twitter as a broadcast tool, like you describe @ESPN and how I use the @NYtimes and others?
Ultimately, it’s a decision each brand has to make for itself — and I agree that a number of variations can work. When it comes to Twitter and brands, one size doesn’t fit all.
Thanks for stopping by, all!
Ann, I hate to be the odd one out, but here goes. I have a Twitter account, as well as several other social media accounts. I read as many blogs as I can weekly, plus the volume of e-mails, e-newsletters, trade publications, and social media posts. This, in addition to marketing my own company and fulfilling consulting contracts. I already have no other life. To Twitter or not to Twitter? I can’t breathe, let alone Twitter! How do you guys manage it all?
We introduced the @PerkettPR corporate brand presence back in October of 2007 as a way to live-tweet events and share relevant PR, social media, and web 2.0 resource and stories with the people who decide to follow us. We’ve never had anyone complain about our activity on Twitter, and I think we do a good job at showing the “human element” behind the brand starting right on our Twitter profile page.
Brands need to keep it real, add the human touch and follow the lead of the Twitter/Brand success stories generated by @RichardAtDell and @ComcastCares.
-Jeff
It really depends on the brand. As Bryan pointed out, ESPN will use Twitter differently than Comcast, which has to solve a host of immediate customer service issues.
And I agree with Bryan’s podcast camper that for Comcast-like situations, it should be MaryatComcast. If she gets hit by a bus, then her replacement SueAtComcast can tell everyone the bad news and explain why she’s taking Mary’s place. Ditto if Mary quits- you can sugarcoat it as “moving on to another oppty” but the more transparency, the better.