A-Flutter Over Twitter
Remember when Elmo was all the rage? Or even the Pet Rock? Or, if those are before your time, Pokemon cards? You just had to have one! Or, think of the early days of cable. It didn't just pop up out of thin air. Perhaps you learned a friend had it and was watching full-length movies courtesy of something called HBO in their own living room! Why don't we have it? It was, eventually, a must have. That is now the case with Twitter. It's all the rage! And, from my point of view, a necessary and incredibly useful communication tool.
Research of the 2010 Inc. 500 list shows that 59 percent of companies have Twitter accounts - 71 percent have Facebook pages; 50 percent have a corporate blog. Clearly, social media has become an important marketing tool for companies seeking to accomplish any variety of goals, such as to market products directly to the consumer, or to provide better service, or improve brand, etc. These strategies have proven successful - but how far should companies go with social media? Should they create accounts with ten platforms? Or three?
As with any strategy being considered, marketing managers must first ask themselves a few questions: Who are we attempting to reach? What percentage of our potential customers or clients use social media? Are they more likely to use their mobile device when Twittering? Which of the social media tools work best with our product or service? And, most importantly, what resources do we have to commit to our social media program? With those questions you're on your way to using one of the most cost-effective tools for reaching your corporate goals. Sometimes the results of your efforts will yield surprises.
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