This week we focused on Twitter. I can't say that I had an easy time with Twitter. It seemed really confusing and hard to follow for me at first. I had to stop and realize that Twitter is all about instant and/or time sensitive news. If someone does not read your tweet right away, it is going to get lost in the shuffle.
Link to my Twitter page
I am following three businesses right now and have ranked them below:
Abercrombie & Kent. This was the favorite for me for sure. Abercrombie & Kent is a travel company that specializes in luxury vacations. Any trip you could imagine, they can plan for you. This obviously comes at a price, so I expected their Twitter page to be geared exclusively towards the luxury traveler. It was in some ways, but it also kept me interested all week with tidbits of information and stories from around the world. They were extremely consistent with their tweets and like I said the content was so varied. They had me hooked when I saw a tweet about Egyptian temple designs where I was able to click a link to a larger article. The page also had some very nice photography which I enjoyed. This is a page that I will continue to visit and should I ever have the means to take such a luxury trip they will have my business for sure.
Applebee's I work as a bartender at Applebee's so I was happy to follow their Twitter page this week. I was somewhat impressed with their setup and content. Veterans Day is a big day for them as all vets eat free so they spent a great deal of time this week promoting that. There is a picture of both of the guys who are on their social media team on the page which I feel is helpful in personalizing it. They also did a nice job of responding to others. To me, it seemed like a good mix of personalized marketing. When you have a food or drink establishment, I feel that Twitter can be extremely useful in getting the word out about a last minute special or an event that you have going on. Applebee's did a good job of doing this.
Southwest Airlines While I enjoyed some of Southwest Airlines other social media outlets, I was a bit disappointed with their Twitter page. It was not full of the varied news and events that I enjoy on their blog. They are great at answering other tweets but not so great about tweeting on their own. But then again I do not know how useful Twitter is for such a large corporation. It seems to me that Southwest may be too big of a company to really have a Twitter marketing campaign. They may be doing the right thing just by having a Twitter presence.
Using Twitter in Social Media Marketing
Because it is so very time sensitive, businesses have to work hard at getting the full potential out of Twitter. Tweets should happen often and be timed to be sent out at the best possible time for everyone. I feel it is important for things to be kept as brief as possible and for links to be included for more information if desired. Twitter is going to be a better platform for some business; however, I feel it is necessary for all businesses to participate and establish some sort of presence as not doing so could eliminate a large part of the social market. I personally feel that the smaller, even local businesses are going to benefit more from Twitter as well as the service industry (restaurants, hotels, clubs). If a restaurant owner decides to have a weekend special or offer a last minute happy hour special and tweets right before the end of the work day, I feel that he will see more results that the larger "corporate" companies. Whatever the case, all tweets should be kept short and to the point. They should begin with something that grabs your attention. Just make sure to always remain active and pay attention to what is going on around you.
A Couple More Social Networking Sites
You can almost find a social networking site for any niche these days. The number of new sites and communities is growing at a rapid pace and it does not show any signs of slowing down. I looked for a few that we have not reviewed yet.
LinkedIn: I really like this site. It is geared towards the professional adult. So far they are the only platform in the world to have achieved a huge following solely focusing on professionals. It is dedicated to helping business professionals maintain a list of contact and connections. Job opportunities are a common benefit listed for using LinkedIn. While listening to an interview with the CEO of LinkedIn (http://cnnmon.ie/mTbBpV) I learned that that Facebook was a horizontal platform whereas LinkedIn was vertical. A vertical business is going to cut out any unnecessary utilities and features and get right to the point. Members of LinkedIn prefer to keep their personal lives and the professional lives separate. I don't see the site as the type to produce a successful mass marketing campaign, however businesses and professionals can certainly market themselves and make connections that otherwise could not have been formed. I almost see this site as marketing in a very pure form, where you simply need to exist and connect to find success.
Xanga: Xanga is a social blogging website. It was launched in 1999 as a way to share book and music reviews and since has grown into a top social network. The site allows you to create your own blogs and join in other blog rings. It gives users the best of both worlds by allowing them to create their own blog as well as follow other blogs. This could be a great platform for the specialized small business to market from. There seems to also be a lot of product reviews on the site, so all companies would be wise to pay attention to it.
Medical Specialty Social Network: All sorts of specialized social networks are beginning to pop up. Some that caught my eye the most were designed for medical professional. These networks will enable them to talk among other professionals. The best thing about them as far as marketing goes is that they will enable pharmaceutical and other health care companies to market directly to the proper audience. One of the largest talked about sites I could find was called ACG GI Circle.
No comments:
Post a Comment