Twitter is one of the most popular social media tools for businesses. Due to its immediacy, popularity, and accessibility, thousands of brands have attempted to master the format in order to get tweets to go viral. Now, in 2013, as marketing adapts to public demands, Twitter is being increasingly used to display the informal side of companies. For some it has been a success - so should other firms consider a change in online voice, or even a switch to Twitter's advertising tools?
How Does Twitter Make Any Money?
Firstly, a note on Twitter’s marketing - although they don't run ads directly, huge profits are expected. With an audience of 200,000 million active users, businesses are eager to have their tweets displayed high in search results. Promoted Tweets were created as a result, and this has proven a very effective money-making scheme; companies such as Pixar, Sony, Red Bull, and Starbucks have been keen to use it. This has been a similar case for Promoted Accounts, Promoted Trends, Verified Accounts (which celebrities require), and aesthetically Enhanced Profiles. They all come at a price.
With this in mind, leaked profit expectations for the end of 2013 are $1.54 billion ($111 million in net earnings). Twitter's subtle methods are big business in only 140 characters.
Bickering Businesses
Whilst major brands take up these techniques, many smaller companies use a cheaper method. Numerous famous brands simply adopt an unexpectedly humorous and risqué tweeting voice. Some notable inclusions here are Taco Bell, Oreo, Official Smart Cars USA, AMC Theatres, and Chipotle.
What’s surprising is how these firms often jovially mock each other and, essentially, mess around online. Some of these firms have even responded to potential customers with mocking tweets. Obviously whoever is operating the social media accounts has had official clearance from high ranking managers, so it’s perhaps worth noting business is entering a new era of customer interaction and fun.
However, when a tweet works and is popular, a business is saving a vast amount of money by using a free service - if a brand is clever they can save themselves from resorting to Promoted Tweets. It’s just a matter of getting noticed amongst the perpetual stream of activity.
Chipotle Hack Themselves
Unfortunately some businesses have a habit of landing themselves in serious bother with ill-advised tweeting. The ability for the public to be able to point out if a business has down something stupid often leads to a Tweet going viral, and a business being shamed. Perhaps most notably in 2013 was the moment when Burger King's official Twitter account was hacked, and McDonald's logos were placed over their traditional profile. Although embarrassing, the aftermath lead to 30,000 new followers for the fast food firm. Elsewhere, Amy’s Baking Company came under attack from thousands of irate internet users after a disastrous appearance on Gordon Ramsay's TV show. Although notorious, the restaurant is now world famous.
With hackers rife on the internet there now appears to be a collective anticipation for the next official brand hack/mistake. Some firms have, strangely, picked up on this. In July 2013 Chipotle pretended their Twitter account had been hacked (MTV and BET also pulled similar stunts, with a mixed results from the public). The article “Has Chipotle’s Twitter Account Been Hacked?” was soon up on popular blog Mashable, and this sent a wave of traffic in Chipotle's direction. As it turned out this was just a publicity stunt ahead of the firm’s 20th Anniversary, but it was an interesting piece of self-sabotage which has boosted their Twitter following considerably.
Twitter Ads For Businesses
For the even smaller, localised businesses there is a way around all this daring and controversy. It would be best to decide on a Twitter “voice” and stick to it - arbitrarily deriding local rivals is not a good idea, and only well-established firms can really attempt such activity. Also, if you're only a small business, it simply may not be efficient to dedicate too much time to your official account. You really must have one though, with Twitter management appplications like TweetDeck as a helpful monitor of public interaction, but remember to focus on the key areas in your business.
For those who would like to embellish their accounts then you can head directly to the source for the chance for Promoted Tweets. Twitter Ads is the official Twitter business ads tool - it’s invite free for anyone in the USA, and is a great way to set your Twitter account moving. If you're willing to pay, of course, and Twitter's pricing policy states, "You’ll only be charged when people follow your Promoted Account or retweet, reply, favourite, or click on your Promoted Tweets. You’ll never be charged for your organic activity on Twitter." For this service you'll also be provided with Twitter Analytics, from which you'll be able to learn about your Twitter account's activity. Learning about your customers behaviour, and adjusting your activity accordingly, can all help the retweets and favourites to increase. Twitter does attempt to cater for small business needs, as it writes, "We’ve got options to meet your business needs. Smaller businesses that want to get started right away can access our self-service tools". It's worth considering if you'd like to end 2013 on a high note.
