Cashing In On The Twitter Boom

24/06/09

By Mark Blenkinsop, Head of Search at creative digital agency, Pod1

Social media is everywhere at the moment, you can't pick up a paper or browse a news site online without finding a mention of it somewhere, and probably 90% of this is focused on Twitter.

With all the noise around it, brand owners are starting to sit up and take notice, and ask how social media can be used as a commercial tool.

While many retail and e-commerce brands have been slow to jump on the bandwagon, there are some that are starting to reap the rewards of joining the Twitterati - the...

...growing number of people using the media.

How and why should companies get involved?

Although there are still huge questions over how you monetise Twitter, whether you love it or loathe it, very few brands can go wrong by using it.

If you look at some of the purely online retailers such as Asos (www.asos.com) and Net-a-porter (www.net-a-porter.com), market leaders in online luxury fashion retail market, they have taken on board everything social media has to offer. How they use Twitter, in particular, is an example to other brands of its power as a customer-marketing tool.

Both sites are dealing with enquiries, problems and responding to comment online through Twitter as well as using it to communicate product information and promotions to their customers. So it's moved way beyond the sort of celebrity stalking that seems to be prevalent elsewhere.

First steps

Getting started with Twitter is a very simple process. Essentially, it's all about creating a conversation with your customers. The people who are going to follow you first are likely to be your core customers, people who care about your brand. However, once you start engaging your audience this will soon expand.

Although it may seem a little obvious,... continued on page two >

 

 

Advertisement

Advertisement