Twitter: Is Not a A Marketing Channel

Twitter. We’ve seen it touted in election coverage on mainstream news, mentioned in news articles and discussed ad nauseum on blogs…and on Twitter. It has an entire “ecolosystem” of add-ons and tools. Many agencies (PR, Advertising, Marketing) push clients on. Wrongly so in many cases.

Twitter is not a new “marketing channel” and this is why it is failing for companies urged by thier agencies to use it as such. Twitter is a conversational tool, it is a communications channel. Twitter can be a viable way to engage with current and potential customers – when used in the correct way from the correct approach.

As Beth Harte so rightly and effectively says ” social media is about sharing and discussing information. It’s communications, not marketing.” This relates very much to Twitter.

Effective Social Media projects for business rely on 3-core-sm-principles 1) Promise, 2) Tools and 3) Bargain. The “tools” vary depending on the campaign, goals and objectives. We applied these most recently to CarShareHFX and it delivered results. Twitter became a viable medium because they were “communicating” with, mutually, an interested audience. Other tools were used – as a communications strategy, bringing in traditional PR tactics.

Using Twitter to push your own agenda results in, well, no results. Used to share, discuss and engage with your audience, it works. This is the approach Dell, among others, has taken – and it is working. Because they use it as part of their communications. As a result they have more loyal customers and yes, subsequently it helps sales, so it becomes an element of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC.)

Be careful when a Social Media consultant or agency says “you must be on Twitter.” We’ve counselled more clients NOT to use Twitter than we have to use Twitter.

(Author: Giles Crouch, Managing Partner)