Barb Coté
“If you’re addicted to crafting the perfect 140 character tweet haiku, you can thank — or curse — Twitter creator Jack Dorsey.” He “believes there’s a universe in every tweet and that less can lead to so much more.”
So what can we learn from the creator of a 4-year old app that can boast 50 million messages per day, yet has a 60% attrition rate?
“It is interesting to think that maybe social media is not only democratizing communication, but also influence and the ability to influence.”
Let’s see what others are saying about the power of Twitter and its ability to influence.
Position 1: Tweets Can’t Be Beat:
“Twitter Users Three Times More Likely to Impact Brands Online, ExactTarget Finds.”
A new study finds consumers active on Twitter are three times more likely to impact a brand’s online reputation through syndicated Tweets, blog posts, articles, and product reviews than the average consumer.
Featured in Twitter X-Factors report, a new report by ExactTarget and CoTweet, the survey of more than 1,500 consumers identifies top motivations for following brands on Twitter and provides new insight into consumers’ expectations for interacting with brands online.
Key findings of the research include:
- Twitter users are the most influential online consumers – 72 percent publish blog posts at least monthly, 70 percent comment on blogs, 61 percent write at least one product review monthly and 61 percent comment on news sites.
- Daily Twitter users are 6 times more likely to publish articles, five times more likely to post blogs, seven times more likely to post to Wikis and three times more likely to post product reviews at least monthly compared to non-Twitter users.
- 20 percent of consumers indicate they have followed a brand in order to interact with the company – more than become email subscribers or Facebook fans for the sake of interaction.
A great story to go along with these stats is in this week’s Billboard Magazine. Amanda Palmer is not a big name in the rock-n-roll world yet, but her non-traditional approach to promotion has netted some decent results. She has a loyal Twitter following, and recently sold $11,000 worth of T-shirts over the course of an evening while chatting with her fans.
She is self-managed, and her tours do well in mid-sized venues. She does not sell many albums through record stores, instead she will offer her music through Bandcamp.
Her view is that “People need to get out of the old mind set about fame being some sort of game you can win and look at ways for musicians to make sustainable middle-class incomes. I’m focused on my audience and art, not being a flash in the pan.”
Position #2: Tweets Can Be Beat
“A new study by Vivaldi Partners and Lightspeed Research examines more than 60 companies and assesses customers’ brand affiliations, advocacy, and sense of community, among other factors, for how they create true value for the companies, no matter whether it’s online or off.”
Case in point: Dunkin’ Donuts has 80% fewer Facebook and Twitter followers than Starbucks.
HOWEVER, Dunkin’ Donuts fans are 35% more likely to recommend the brand. In other words, brand advocates BEAT brand followers.
Dunkin’s Director of Interactive and Relationship Marketing, David Tryder, follows two rules for his campaigns: “fun and cheap.” The Web-only “Create-The-Next-Donut” Contest had 290,674 different entries this year and will become an annual event.”
Perhaps this explains why people are 50% more likely to have heard good things about Dunkin’ than Starbucks — regardless of the channel.
More insights from Jack Dorsey:
“… what’s really interesting is that often times, when you’re looking for ways to do it, it doesn’t really produce any results. I imagine that the guy who took the picture of the plane in the Hudson wasn’t looking for ways to increase his following — he only had like twenty or thirty followers — or increase his influence, or for that matter probably wasn’t even thinking about Twitter at all when he captured the image. He just took a picture of a plane in the Hudson, then tweeted it out.
“Other platforms require a lot more structure and more discipline and kind of put up all these barriers to produce content.”
…I think there are a lot of people, not just corporations, who are still trying to figure out what it means to them and how to use it effectively.”
Jack does not have it figured out yet. Nether do I, but it is exciting to have an opportunity to even the media playing field with apps like Twitter.
Resources:
http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/dispnewsstand?article=10572 (Must be logged in to DMA to access this article.)
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/145/next-tech-five-steps-to-social-currency.html
About the Author:
Barb Coté serves as the Creative Director at marketing analytics company, SIGMA Marketing Group. Connect with Barb on or follow her on .
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