Twitter: Should I Bother?

There is no denying the incredible buzz around Twitter, the micro-blogging platform that has everyone from celebrities to CEO's singing (or tweeting) its praises. But what is still being decided is its relevancy to an organization's marketing initiatives. Is this just another trend or can it be used as an effective marketing tool? This month's article explains the Twitter phenomenon and why it should be on your radar.

If you haven't heard about Twitter, here is the lowdown: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers).

In a recent Nielsen Wire report, they announced that Twitter has grown 1382% in unique visitors since February of 2008 – six times facebook's growth rate. That means that there are now over 7 million unique visitors per month. If the shear volume of this audience isn't appealing to you, consider their usage. According to a recent BtoB Magazine article:

The most interesting part of this statistic is that about 42% or roughly 3 million of those unique visitors are between the ages of 35 and 49, contradictory to the assumption that "social networks are just for teens and college kids". Remarkably, the majority (62%) of Twitter users access the site during work hours, either through their PC or via mobile applications and browsers. Might this be the audience you are trying to reach?

On top of all that, search.twitter.com is quickly becoming a Google competitor, indexing and ranking individual tweets in real time. If something is happening and being tweeted about, you might not be able to find up-to-the-second conversations through Google, but you will surely find them on Twitter.

One of the most valuable and prevalent uses of Twitter is it's capabilities for real-time PR. Twitter is undeniably made for broadcasting a message to a large number of followers. For businesses and organizations, the value of Twitter becomes evident through mentions, "retweets", replies, and follows. The name of the game is awareness, which is why the ROI of Twitter is a difficult one to measure accurately.

Twitter critics argue that it's a narcissistic service that allows people to share their every insignificant move. However, the Tweeters who simply broadcast what they ate for lunch or what TV show they're watching aren't accomplishing as meaningful connections with their followers.

For non profit organizations as well as for-profit businesses, Twitter can be an instrumental addition to your marketing & PR toolbox. For businesses, it is a remarkably simple way to maintain client relationships with frequent "sound bite" updates. For example, Lenovo recently expanded its promotional channels to include Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to promote its offerings for SMB customers. Large and small, B2B and B2C, companies are creating deeper relationships with their customers without a major financial investment.

Similarly, non profit organizations are finding that twitter has very quickly become a large part of their social media marketing efforts. Tricia Barry, Communications Director of Farm Sanctuary, explains that "Of all our social networking efforts, Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds." By portioning about 15 hours per week to social networking and incorporating more social media features within Farm Sanctuary's main website, they "have seen a progressive increase in Web traffic to [their] site (farmsanctuary.org) that I would partially attribute to our presence on Twitter, as well as our other social networks." For nonprofits, the key is to be proactive and send relevant messages that draw people to your website to take action.

Michelle McGiboney of Nielsen Online wrote "It will be interesting to watch the evolution of Twitter as it continues to gain momentum. In an unstable economy, it might prove to be an economical and important part of an employer's marketing strategy that helps to keep consumers aware of and connected to their brand." The connection, awareness and timeliness of an organizations message is what gives Twitter the advantage. Its audience is growing at a rapid pace, and within an important demographic that can help you connect with users that are interested in what you have to say and are looking for a conversation. There is no downside to Twitter, if you use it thoughtfully.

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