By Chantal India, on 26 May 2016
Although Twitter has been around for a decade now, it is still something of a mythical Internet beast. A Tweet is composed of just 140 characters. To put that in perspective, the previous two sentences would be too long to fit into a single Tweet. Some CMOs might not be clear on how their team can use something so compressed as a 140 character Tweet as an effective marketing tool. If don’t currently use Twitter as part of your digital marketing campaign, below are 7 reasons why you should start doing so today.
1# The Front Office
Your front office is the place customers interact with your company and brand. Offline, most companies put a lot of effort into creating and managing an efficient and friendly front office. But have you ever thought about your digital front office? With increasing numbers of people now using the Internet to search for products and businesses ahead of a purchase, your digital front office has never been so important. Twitter provides a fantastic front office, which allows customers to easily locate and interact with your brand.
2# Big Reach
Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has grown rapidly and currently has over 300 million active users, with 100 million of these users connecting to Twitter every day. This gives your company the opportunity to reach a truly global audience. Whatever your business makes or sells, Twitter is certain to contain your target audience, which is why it is so important to view Twitter as an advertising opportunity.
3# Analysis This
Another big benefit of using Twitter is that the company makes the majority of its user content available to the public, which makes it a fantastic source of social listening data for brands. Social listening is a way of assessing what is being said about your company or product on the Internet. Using this data will allow you to better respond to customers concerns and comments. Social listening can also help you to more effectively target and optimize your Twitter ad campaigns.
4# On Target
Twitter also makes it easier to target and monitor users with your ad campaign. The Target Bidding feature allows you to pre-qualify users based on their gender, location, interest, language or device, making it possible to reach out to users who are likeliest to perform a desired action, such as clicking your link or following your account. This means less of your digital marketing budget is wasted targeting the wrong demographic.
Twitter also enables you to get better feedback on those users that do click your ad. With its Qualified Impressions feature, a click is only reported when a user has seen 100% of an ads content, which means you know if a users has fully engaged with your campaign, rather than just scrolling past your video.
5# On Trend
Trending Topics on Twitter are the most talked about subjects on the social network. They appear on the left side of the page and are a key way in which Twitter users engage with stories. By using Promoted Tweets as part of your digital marketing campaign, you can position your brand at the top of the list of trending stories for 24 hours. Promoted Trends have been found to lift brand conversation by 22%, with this impact continuing for a number of weeks after the initial story begins to trend.
6# Follow Me
Research carried out on behalf of Twitter by Market Probe International has shown that 72% of users are more likely to purchase products or services from your business if they interact or follow your company on Twitter, with 30% of people almost more likely to recommend your company to a friend. Recommendations make a big difference, as 86% of those asked said they are more likely to engage with a company if a friend recommended them. So, not only can Twitter followers become customers, they also help to raise awareness of your brand.
7# Monitor Your Competition
The benefits and insight Twitter provides doesn’t just apply to your target customers. Twitter also provides your company with a great look at what your competitors are doing. Every CMO knows that effective marketing involves keeping one eye on the competition. By following a range of competitors using the Twitter platform, you can monitor their Tweets and interactions with customers. While Twitter is great for targeting customers, it also allows customers to interact with the brand. When things go wrong, many customers will now directly Tweet a company to complain, rather than picking up the phone or firing off email. This can allow you to spot and exploit weak spots in your competitors business.
Over the past decade, Twitter has developed an impressive range of advertising options which give businesses direct access to their target audience. The analytical capability of the platform proves in-depth insight, which will allow you and your team to accurately measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaign. If you aren’t already using Twitter as part of your digital marketing presence, then now is the time to start.
