business uses of twitter

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How businesses can use Twitter to their advantage A Framework for Analysis and Action

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How Twitter can create value for companies and what options this new form of communication presents to businesses (short presentation)

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Page 1: Business uses of Twitter

How businesses can use Twitter to their advantage

A Framework for Analysis and Action

Page 2: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Is it too early for businesses to adopt Twitter?

USA 157m Internet users

GERMANY 42.5 m Internet users

78K-300K Twitter users (EST)

8.5m Twitter users

Source: eMarketer.com / twitter.com / webevangelisten.de

Page 3: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Twitter is currently used by Innovators and Early Adopters but is quickly making its way into the mainstream

Source: wikipedia.org, wsj.com

Is it too early for businesses to adopt Twitter?

Page 4: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

It might be too early for your business to use Twitter, but its time to consider the options available

• Twitter has shown enormous growth and adoption over the past six months

• Now is the time to evaluate the best uses of Twitter for your business – But there may be none (right now)

• Twitter can be used as a communication, research and engagement tool, or any combination of these

• Firms need to choose a Twitter strategy that fits with their brands, products, culture and business objectives

• As Twitter matures and grows, firms must re-evaluate this strategy regularly and, if necessary, adapt over time

• OK, How do we get started?

Page 5: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

How can Twitter communication be classified?

4

„Fresh bread just out of oven now“

Automatic

• Data Push and Automated Interaction with Customers / Customer Systems

Business Uses

3

„What are you missing?“

Promotional

Business Uses

• Channel for new form of promotion

• Organise / Promote Events

1

„What has your attention?“

(„What are you doing?“)

• Monitoring & Customer Service

• Market research

• Emotional bondB2C, B2E, E2E

Business Uses

Personal

2

„What‘s the latest news (about that

company)?“

• PR / Corporate communications

• Demonstrate expertise by sharing knowledge

Business Uses

Informational

Page 6: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Broadcast Listen Engage

Communication forms and typical uses in a corporate environment

Primary Flow of Information

Primary Flow of Information

Conver-sation

• Publish recent news about the company

• Advertising of Events / Activities / Products and Promotions (Own and Affiliated)

• Automated broad-cast of events rel-ated to business

• Trend research based on analysis of Twitter datafeed

• Ask customers questions & market research tool

• Collect ideas, innovations and improvements / complaints from social network

• Use Twitter as a customer service and retention tool

• Humanisation and emotionalisation of brand / increase staff retention / build team spirit across distributed teams

• Expert exchange

CategoryOccasion CategoryOoccasion CategoryOccasion

Informa-tional

Promo-tional

Informa-tional

Informa-tional

Informa-tional

Auto-matic

Informa-tional

Personal

Informa-tional

Page 7: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Rationale (Negative)-Example

Some basic rules to consider before using Twitter in a corporate setting (details depend on the usage scenario)

•Rule 1: Be Recent„We‘re having this special sale in 2 weeks http://bit.ly/13tRl3“

Twitter is a constant stream of current information – Twitter is NOW

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•Rule 2: Be Relevant (To your Target Audience)

„Big choice in used cars – gotta see to believe http://bit.ly/13tRl3“

Twitter is Opt-In, if content is perceived as Spam, irrelevant or not useful, you‘re going to get unfollowed

•Rule 3: Pay Attention (To what customers say about you)

Twitter offers very simple search for keywords in realtime – e.g. Plane crash, competitor A, B, C

Comcast scans all tweets and blogpostings to detect its metions and has reaction processes /people in place

•Rule 4: Follow relevant People / Organizations

Twitter identity is in part your Bio, your picture, tweets and your followers

Example: AdidasRunning „follows“ known runners; SiemensEnergy follows customers, other staffers and other Siemens accounts

„Short sleeve status: short“ oder „Throw out Relationship and go pirateship! #dating #advice

•Rule 5: Be Original / Authentic

At the moment Twitter is still fresh, and originality, eloquence and authenticity are valued highly

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Page 8: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

With the things that I have learnt about Twitter, how should I now use it for my business?

• That depends on the type of business and type of brand, its competencies / capabilities and core values:

• In general if you have a business where the brand has an emotional component (e.g. you’re a fashion brand, a hotel or a celebrity) – then consider using Twitter as an engagement tool (and maybe for customer service)

• If you have products or services which change quickly, e.g. an airline with constant price changes and where customer demand is driven by promotions, then consider using Twitter as a promotional tool for short lived NOW promotions

• If you can combine more than one aspect promote, engage, automate and inform the better you are making use of Twitter

Page 9: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Examples

Page 10: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Dell on Twitter

Alltags-Problem-Wettbewerb

Case Study Dell: Broad offering of Twitter-accounts with various differing types of content for Customer Opt-In

Best Practice

• Main use is an additional channel for Promotions • Twitter as a type of free permission marketing, in

particular for discounts, specials and coupons

Implementation and Motivation• In total 33 Twitter accounts• Special offers and promotions (by segment and

geography), Special interest engagement groups and imformation channel

• Top 10 accounts have more than 98% of the followers, top account (DellOutlet) has more than 90%. Median is 618 followers

Flow of InformationType of Comms

Promotional

Personal

Infor-ma-tional

Auto-matic

Analysis & Frameworks

Broad-cast

En-gage

Listen

Page 11: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Type of Comms

Case Study: ComcastCares, a combination of marketing and customer service

Analysis & Frameworks

Flow of Information

Broad-cast

En-gage

Listen

• http:twitter.com/ComcastCares as a central customer Serivce Account (with several personal additional accounts – real names)

• Twitter is not a replacement for Phone and Email • Its a faster interaction than traditional channels• Twitter is more personal, less formal and more interactive

(which some users find more attractive)

Implementation and Motivation

Best Practice

• Fast uncomplicated customer service via Twitter is/was a differentiator for Comcast

• Customer Service group has the experience, competence and is empowered to trigger solutions quickly

Promotional

Personal

Infor-ma-tional

Auto-matic

Page 12: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Flow of InformationType of Comms

Promotional

Personal

Infor-ma-tional

Auto-matic

Implementation and Motivation AlbionsOven (Der Bäcker Ofen)

Case Study: BakerTweet, a combination between marketing and automation

• Keeping Customers informed / engaged about current „status“ of product / service

• Timeliness is an important aspect of the product – the „fresher“ the better – Realtime matters

• Product is low absolute margin / can‘t affort large spend on realtime promotional channel (other than email – not suited)

• Increase Demand and Customer Loyalty

Best Practice

• Makes best use of realtime / neartime component of Twitter

• Messages are not only informative but witty and original

Analysis & Frameworks

Broad-cast

En-gage

Listen

Page 13: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Backup

Contact Details:

Richard Caelius

Twitter: @rcaelius

Email: twitter (at) caelius (dot) com

Page 14: Business uses of Twitter

© Richard Caelius 2009

Motivation – Why use Twitter?

Share information / experiences in realtime

Create snowball effect (to virally spread messages)

Service and Engage with Customers

Ask social network questions or help

Build reputation and self realization

Marketing / Advertising / Promotions

Build and extend social Network

Entertainment

„Discovery“ – stumble across new information and people

„Ambient Intimacy“ (Build an emotional link with geographical distance being irrelevant)

Recency of News and Information

Being part of a story / helping it spread

Forecasting and trendspotting

Reasons to Listen Reasons to Send

Research (Trends / Market Research)

Watch / Analyze