Marketing on Twitter is still a new frontier. While there are certain best practices that have been developed in the last few years, it can be difficult to develop a winning strategy. But there are some brands that are seeing a real impact from their Twitter usage, and they each do something particularly well that you can learn from. Here are 7 well known brands that are getting the most out of Twitter. If you put some of these lessons into practice, I guarantee you’ll start getting more out of your Twitter marketing.
GM – @GMblogs – Put a friendly face on your business
Large corporations have a tendency to become monolithic brands, and over time they become bland and faceless. GM was one of these brands, but now they’re using Twitter to put a personable face on the company for consumers. Take a quick look at the account of @GMblogs and you’ll see a custom background with portraits of the four people responsible for that account. Rather than having a corporate style, all-encompassing “GM” Twitter account, they have a variety of accounts that all try to interact with followers on a personal level. They feature tweets like the one pictured above, where they focus attention on someone who works at GM. They also try to keep an ongoing conversation with their followers by utilizing @mentions and #hashtags.
Dell – @DellOutlet – Use special promotions to drive sales
Twitter gets a lot of attention for being an outlet for branding and customer service, but it has proven to be a good driver of sales as well. And no company has proved this more than Dell. In fact their Twitter account @DellOutlet has been directly responsible for over $3,000,000 in sales since they began the account. Yes, $3million pales in comparison to their overall sales, but it is still an impressive feat that others can learn from. The way they have racked up this amount of sales is simple, and easy for any business to do. They offer special discounts to their followers. Yes, it’s that simple! This strategy is very effective as it gives people a reason to buy, it allows them to reach new customers as these deals are retweeted out to others, and it lets Dell analyze sales generated through Twitter by looking at the discount codes used. By using this strategy I’m sure they have an astronomical ROI for their marketing through Twitter.
JetBlue – @JetBlue – Provide great, personalized customer service
Jet Blue has always tried to hang there hat on a great customer experience (despite some troubles). And now, they’re using Twitter to further their culture of providing superior customer service. I was especially taken by the tweet I’ve featured above. One of their customers was having trouble checking in for the 2nd leg of their flight, and they sent a message asking for help to @JetBlue. Within minutes, they had an answer that explained EXACTLY where to go inside of the terminal. Talk about amazing service. Not only does providing public customer service through Twitter help your customers, it also helps with your branding. Everyone can see the effort you put into helping your customers, and others will take note which will definitely result in a sale down the road.
No Reservations (TV Show) – @NoReservations – Have your tweets seamlessly extend your brand’s messaging
Ok, ok. So No Reservations isn’t a “brand” per se. But it’s a great TV show, and there are definitely some things that we can learn from them as they market the show on Twitter. For those of you who watch No Reservations, you’ll know what I mean when I say Anthony Bourdain has a unique sense of humor. The way he presents the show is very witty, and often with a dry sense of humor that can be an acquired taste. And this style extends even to their tweets, as shown above. When I read this message from the @NoReservations, I imagined Anthony Bourdain actually saying it. It’s exactly the kind of narration he provides on the show, and your tweets should have the same continuity with your brand. If you’re a fun and trendy boutique, make sure that attitude is apparent in your tweets. If you’re a Real Estate agent that means serious business, make sure your tweets are professional and informative. A consistent messaging throughout your tweets will make it easy for your followers to approach you when they need something that you offer.
Home Depot – @HomeDepot – Provide valuable “inside information” to your followers
A lot of people on Twitter follow businesses, but they don’t ACTIVELY follow them. Basically, these businesses tweets are going in one ear and out the other. The reason for that is they aren’t providing value to their followers. As I noted in the lesson from @DellOutlet, providing discounts is a great way to sell using your tweets. But this is really only of value to someone that’s ready to buy your product. There is maybe 1% of the time that these tweets provide a real value to the follower that receives them (people ready to buy). But say they tweeted out a “Computer Buyer’s Guide”, suddenly their tweet becomes relevant to the other 99% of the people who follow them. One company that does a great job of this is Home Depot. They regularly tweet out tips that give their followers a real value in return for following them. By providing this value, their followers actively follow the @HomeDepot account to pick up the latest home improvement tips that they’re offering.
American Apparel – @americanapparel – Get involved with your followers on a more personal level
One thing that some businesses forget about Twitter is that it was originally intended to be a way for people to connect with friends and other people. In the rush to start using Twitter to market to potential customers, it became just another outlet for their corporate messaging. These accounts are littered with sporadic product feature announcements, trade show information, and other stuff that most people could care less about. If your business wants to get real value from marketing on Twitter, you need to use it as it was originally intended – to connect with people on a personal level! American Apparel does a great job with this, as shown in the tweet above. If you look at their account, there are probably thousands of @messages to their followers. By interacting with their followers on a personal level, a strong bond is created between them and the American Apparel brand. By showing your followers the same personalized attention, they will form the same connection with you. If you’re wondering how to do this, here’s a tip. If you aren’t already, start using TweetDeck to send out your tweets. When you use TweetDeck, you can set up searches that will show every tweet that contains specific keywords in real time. By finding tweets that relate to your business, you can start initiating relevant conversations with potential customers.
Burger King – @theBKlounge – Use humor when appropriate
All business and no fun makes your business boring to follow! I’m not saying that you need to be the next Mitch Hedburg and that every tweet needs to be hilarious, but a little bit here and there can go a long way. (Make sure that it fits with your brand image as well!) Your followers aren’t just following you, and boring tweets are drowned out in the noise of all the other tweets they’re seeing. Make your business stand out in the crowd by using humor, and people will be more interested in what you have to say. This can be tricky, so be sure that you’re not offending anyone with your humor. You don’t want to be “That Guy”.
Is your business doing something particularly well that others can learn from? Do you have a Twitter tip that you’re putting to use successfully? Let me know by commenting below and I’ll incorporate it in a future article.
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