Recently I have heard several of my professional colleagues across small and large companies, but all over 40, commenting that they didn’t get twitter, thought it was stupid, and didn’t have time for it. I have heard these same musings from work colleagues, and other marketing professionals. In fact I think it’s a badge of honor for some us to say that we just don’t get the social media thing and all its hype, and that we like to do it old school.
I can understand these feelings. Most of us are managing departments, have huge pressures, and we were brought up in a different marketing age, operating under different rules. However; we must begin to understand the paradigm shift taking place in how we communicate, and how we need to market going forward. I won’t go into a long diatribe of all the changes, but I do want to focus on twitter as I believe it to be one of the more significant tools, that we over 40 marketers really need to understand. We need to understand, why our customers are using it, and how it impacts our brand experience and marketing strategy.
To start things off twitter is a communications platform or, as some would call it, a micro blogging platform with over 4M users. It allows its users to send short text messages, about 140 characters in length, on anything they wish. These text messages are called “tweets”. If you like someone and their message you can choose to follow them. The more people that follow you, then the more people you ultimately communicate your messages to.
Twitter can sometimes get a bad rap as most people new to twitter start off by tweeting about their day, as in “I just ate breakfast”. However there are many communities that exist within twitter. For example, I follow people related to social media, marketing, demand generation, and b2b marketing. These people tweet on points of view, and even share linkable information within their tweets. So every time these folks tweet, I get an alert, and I can see what they are saying or simply look at the feeds later in the day. Today, twitter has now become my #1 source of news across my professional peer group.
Why should marketers care about twitter? There are many reasons, but here a few that may get you thinking:
1. Twitter enables your brand to have voice. I started a branded twitter feed about 5 months ago. You can check out it here at http://twitter.com/_Lumension . I did this, as I wanted to communicate on key news and events across Lumension and in the IT Security industry. We now communicate on Lumension news, blog posts and our own commentary on industry events. We have over 250 followers of IT professionals that share a passion on all things information security. We have also learned a few things within the industry that enabled us to respond ahead of the curve. There is debate about whether brands should tweet or if individuals from your company should tweet. My answer is yes. Just start doing it, and you will learn and find what works best for you.
2. Twitter enables your brand to be conversational. Now that we are “tweeting”, people can converse with us. This is where we really want to expand our use of twitter, in getting more conversational with our community. We’re not there yet, but we know that’s where things will get exciting for us. Imagine real-time communication with your brand and customers, partners, prospects, analysts, press etc. Here’s an example of how a major brand like Whole Foods is using twitter to connect with their base.
Here are some of the major brands found on twitter today:
3. Twitter enables you to listen in on your Brand. In my view this is the single most powerful feature of twitter. In the past we had to conduct research to see what people we’re thinking or saying about our brands. Today, twitter now gives us a real-time snapshot into what people are saying about our brands, products, and their perspectives on the experience they have when dealing with us. This is incredibly powerful to marketers. Imagine seeing and knowing what people are saying, and their feelings, complaints, all in near real-time. Then imagine being able to converse with those people in real-time. Starting to get it now? Here’s a video from Gary Vaynerchuk on this and I recommend you watch it.
4. Twitter enables you to extend your brand experience. Imagine being able to see that someone has a question about your product and immediately extending an offer to help. Or more importantly, let’s say you see a complaint. Instead of letting it linger you reach out, and offer additional support or an explanation. No other platform out there can scale this type of brand engagement for so little cost. Twitter is free for now.
Several industry announcements this week have elevated the importance of twitter to brands. Recently SalesForce.com announced that they were extending an interface into twitter so that companies could see what was being said about their brands or if people we’re having questions about their product service( In the demo, SalesForce showed how someone working for a telecom provider could spot and track a discussion about a headset that a user was having trouble with. The telecom worker could dig through their company's internal knowledge base and then send the Twitter user a link to a help document). This is a significant event for a major CRM vendor to interface to twitter. This shows that twitter is becoming more powerful and more important to brands every day.
In another announcement twitter, Federated Media, and Microsoft announced a Brand sponsored twitter aggregation platform called ExecTweet. Basically ExecTweet aggregates all major CEO tweets into one place, with some community features, while Microsoft sponsors it. Now imagine the opportunity to be the sole brand sponsoring aggregated tweets from key people on topics within your industry.
So how do you get started? A Few recommendations:
1. Get Started. I’m sure that several companies are still trying to figure out who owns social media, what the strategy is (or rather what new power point deck looks best), and how they should get started, let alone deal with the cultural shift on how to deal with open and honest feedback about your company. The point is to get started. Start a twitter feed today. I don’t pretend to be some expert on all this, and we are evolving our thinking everyday in how to best use social media, but at least we are evolving and getting more enlightened. Get started now no matter what your company’s size is.
2. Start Listening: As I mentioned this is the single most powerful feature of twitter. It’s easy to do and I’ll show you Ed’s budget way to aggregate tweets about your company or any topic into one place. First go to http://search.twitter.com/. Enter the brands you want to follow (your own, products, competitors, or other topics). When you get the results then click on the rss “feed for this inquiry”. You will be taken to the rss page where you can then click on “Subscribe to this feed”.
Try it. You will be amazed and see the real power behind this platform.
3. Get Educated. Educate yourself on the changing rules of marketing, pr, and technology. Here are a couple of great twitter feeds that I would recommend you get started with:
b. http://twitter.com/briansolis
c. http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan
Yes, we as marketing leaders are in a new environment where the rules we once knew are changing rapidly, but the fundamentals are still the same. The worst thing we can do is not to educate ourselves, and understand the impact of the changing marketing paradigm. Start opening up today, and I guarantee you will begin to see things in a new light, and with a different perspective. Feel free to share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me on twitter at http://twitter.com/cedwardbrice
Nuff said.
Excellent information! I'd like very much to reference this link in my b2b blog as well as posting a link to it on my twitter.
I will do my best to get my clients and my active prospects to read it too (and follow the recommended feeds).
Thanks! - Billy Mitchell, MLT Creative, ATL GA
Posted by: Billy Mitchell | March 29, 2009 at 10:24 PM
Good post. I blogged about this recently, too, here: http://tinyurl.com/dknpwt. I'm glad you went a step further and helped new folks with some tips on how to get started.
It's frustrating to hear people talk about this new technology and immediately write it off as being stupid or a fad. I suppose they would have said the same thing about radio and TV -- and we all know how quickly those died out. :)
Posted by: Ari Adler | March 30, 2009 at 02:02 PM
You must understand that, at 55, I have seen enough marketing failures in the last 5 years to know that Twitter must evolve to be useful, should it live that long. A couple of years ago it was second Life. what happened? That's got nothing to do with how old I am and everything to do with a good idea gone wrong. It can still happen to Twitter. Tweet me when you've got proof in 2011.
Posted by: VSap | March 30, 2009 at 04:22 PM
I have been using Twitter and Facebook but I have to agree with VSap. I am 53 and have also seen too many marketing failures and much time and effort put into something that was a passing fad. You really need to focus on what it is you want to accomplish by using these tools and leverage them. The idea of just tweeting is not enough. There should be some plan or direction or goal in using these tools for marketing and brand awareness.
Posted by: Diane | March 31, 2009 at 08:33 AM
Well, I read the comments and I am 24, but have notoriously been a late-adopter my whole life...last to get MP3 player, join Myspace and Facebook,and STILL dont have internet on my phone!
The thing about Vsap's comment is that from my vantage point (much lower) I see that marketing is becoming inextricably tied to these tools, the same way it has become inextricably tied to Google, SEO and SEM and PPC ads. Those things have become a necessity now...you may still have to do the others, but you have to do those too.
Social Media is going one step further...you have to do those other things (traditional mktg and SEO) but now you have to Facebook and Twitter and Blog...RIGHT NOW...whether it is a fad or not. That is what these tools have done...they have created an atmosphere so instantaneous and hyper-active that I very much doubt it will survive but you cant risk not being in it at all for the 5-10 years it will be there.
I have recently started to Twitter for my company and I use that in conjunction with our blog and I really leverage these with LinkedIn groups. Has dramatically increased the traffic to our blogs and the number of comments (its hard to get comments on blogs when you're a small biz, so 2 or 3 can be a great encouragement!)
And yes, we still update our SEO, check our rankings, look at competitors, re-design and change our website, fiddle with pricing, and run PPC ads.
And at the end of the day, like everything else...it doesnt happen overnight and you get out of it what you put into it.
Hating on Web 2.0, whether its because you're old, or a late adopter, or whatever, is not what I consider marketing to be about anyways...its about finding the newest, most innovative ways to put your product or service to your customers. With Web 2.0, if you look at it right...those customers may actually tell you how they want you to reach out to them...talk about axing a huge amount from your marketing budget!
Posted by: Victoria | April 02, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Excellent article. As an "over 40" myself I have been fascinated by the emergence of social media and the power with which it has captivated the market, yet I had put it into the category of simply another media tool. Your article allowed me to see it in a much more relevant and 3 dimensional way. Thanks!!!
Posted by: Kelly | April 06, 2009 at 08:36 AM
@vsap, @ Diane. Agree that you need a focus for effective use of the tools. However we must become more conversational in our brand communications and tools like twitter enable that. If we're not conversing in today's world we will be left behind.
Posted by: ed | April 12, 2009 at 07:15 PM
@victoria Insightful comments from a young marketer. Its about leveraging the best tools to build a dialouge with our customers and prospects at the end of the day. That conversation as you point out will drive a significant ROI across many fronts.
Posted by: ed | April 12, 2009 at 07:18 PM
Age isn't really the determining factor - attitude is. I'm well over 40, have a twitter account, Blog and YouTube channel; many of the under 40s I've worked with show no interest experimenting with these communications vehicles.
Being aware of the awesome potential of Web 2.0 is more about mindset than chronology.
Posted by: Ian Griffin | April 21, 2009 at 06:09 PM
Oh for cryin' out loud, I'll be 55 this year, have written four books on technical subject and work as a Technical Writer for a software company. Would people please keep treating "over 40s" as if we're all still playing with slide rules and trying to figure out how to beat the "Russies" to the moon?
Posted by: James | April 22, 2009 at 04:19 AM
I totally agree with James & Ian. I stumbled upon your blog & won't be coming back. Your tagline is presumptuous & alienating. There are as many over 40's (daresay over 50's) who are as savvy with Web 2.0 as there are under 40's who aren't! It's not an age issue at all.
Posted by: Carol Skyring | April 26, 2009 at 03:41 PM
@James, @ Carol Skyring First thank you for your comments. I agree that age is more about a state a mind than a reality.
The post was not about 40 or 50 year olds but rather marketers over 40 who may not be accepting, or even be aware of the latest tools and trends and process innovation impacting the marketing profession.
There is a general generational gap in understanding of among marketers in how to use social tools or even who’s using the tools.
For example a recent UK study pointed out the following: The lack of understanding of social media as a marketing tool may explain senior marketers reluctance to grasp its potential. 67.5% of marketers in the survey thought that social media is used more by the youth market (under 25s) however, according to Nielsen, people using Twitter tend to trend older with 35 – 49 year olds making up 42% of traffic to Twitter.com with the majority (62%) accessing it only at work.
So while I’m sure there are many marketing managers who use and understand the role of social media there are an equal number who do not understand the fundamental change taking place in the marketing function and equal change in the customer buying cycle.
The point of post was to communicate the fact that we shouldn’t write off Twitter as something stupid or a waste of time but rather understand how this one tool can help us converse better with our customers and track the conversations taking place about our brands.
Posted by: ed | May 17, 2009 at 10:42 PM