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Saturday 19 June 2010

Twitter Tips for Brands in 140 Characters

So what’s a brand to do? My tips, in 140 characters or less:
Brands have to be more than just faceless organizations online. They need to offer value added content about their brand/industry/sector.
I hope that we contribute to the Twitter conversation by bringing news and info not only about our cause but related topics as well.
Each brand can represent more than its product or service. It represents a whole industry and related content attached to that industry.
You don’t have to talk about your competitors but you should talk about what your customers come to you for.

Creative Ideas for Brands on Twitter

I would also add that a brand has to use every marketing tool according to the players already in the game. Don’t come to Twitter as a new brand and expect people to follow you just because you are well known. You need to offer more. I believe every brand can offer more, especially on Twitter because of the nature of the conversations that go on, not in spite of it. I would love to hear from some of my beloved brands like Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, Sam Adams, and on and on.

P&G
Can tell about the old days of sponsoring Soap Operas and how that went. Or they could talk about some of the staple food items in a historical context. I was fascinated by a show on TV once that traced the history of ketchup of all things. Can’t P&G or Heinz give me that for free on twitter? Intersperse Tweets with links and Twitpics and blog posts that craft a whole story. Speaking of craft, Kraft could talk about cheese all day long and you CAN make it interesting.


Coca Cola
Has millions of ways to go with this, from showing old ads, to trivia to history and answering questions about the product. I see many ways that staple brands—ones that people would think would be boring online—can be exciting. Not all brands need to reinvent the wheel with their own Social Networking sites. Some of the best tools like Twitter are out there for free to let people know all this great stuff about you.

Sam Adams
Getting back to it, Sam Adams or any other wine or beer company can hire a great writer to craft a campaign where they tell the story of their brand across multiple platforms over time. Twitter is a great place to start. I love beer. I can think of many ways of using Twitter alone to really engage an audience online just with Twitter, a blog, an RSS feed and a few well-placed Social Networking groups. The brand brings the recognition and the power to Twitter, not the other way around. Brands need to learn to use it wisely by supplying people (Tweeple are people too, you know) with content that engages and informs.

Brands on Twitter? Absolutely Yes!

It’s funny but every time a new technology comes around like Twitter, people scrabble to figure out how their brand can market to it. But, in reality the people who are using it every day already know how. In a new media space, new media rules still apply. What I mean is don’t revert back to the tried and true methods to market whenever a new media technology comes along. Brands should watch the space and learn how others are effectively using it on a personal level and then just play along. It is quote simply, watch and learn.
The group will take care of the spammers and insincere brands on Twitter. Nobody will follow them back. They will get reported. They will be ridiculed into submission, eventually. There is no reason to call for a wholesale ban of brands on Twitter. I for one, want to hear what they have to say.

1 comments:

roadcred said...

Where the household names are struggling with Twitter is that they do not like to give value FREE! This is a hurdle they need to overcome.
http://thetwittermaster.com

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