The Viral Marketing Power of Twitter Wirral Mums Guide to Marketing Yourself Successfully Using Twitter
The Viral Marketing Power of Twitter Introduction
The viral marketing power of Twitter is simply amazing. Every single day, over 3 million tweets are sent out. These are people communicating about products, passions, internet memes, news and whatever is hitting the viral sphere that day. Twitter was created to make virality easy. With the click of a button, any one of your followers can retweet your tweet and send your tweet out to all their followers. If they have 10,000 followers, then that one tweet just suddenly became 10,000 tweets. Retweeting makes it easy to reach thousands and thousands of people beyond your current sphere of influence. Unlike email or Facebook, Twitter's culture leans heavily on sharing content. On Facebook, it's relatively rare for someone to repost someone else's link or video. On Twitter however, retweeting is encouraged in the culture and etiquette. In other words, if you post something with true viral potential, that message can spread like wildfire in a way that it simply can't on Facebook, through email or through the rest of the web. When Twitter first came out, people didn't take it seriously. It was the platform where people posted details of their breakfast, where people posted every little thing that really had no relevance. Over time, however, it's evolved to so much more. Today Twitter is used to pass vital news, resolve customer complaints, pass along quality and timely content and so much more. Twitter is used by brands like Dell, Zappos, Coca Cola and many more because it's so powerful. Both small businesses and Fortune 100 corporations are finding that the time and energy they put into Twitter often returns them much, much more than resources put in other marketing vehicles for their business. How do you actually harness this powerful marketing tool? How can you create tweets that get fired off across the twittersphere, retweeted again and again? How can you harness the power of Twitter to market your business? Here's how.
Understanding the Twitter Mentality In order to really create a sustainable and viral marketing effort on Twitter, you first need to understand how the Twitter user thinks and expects to be treated. Tweeters don't want to be treated like just anyone else. They especially don't want to feel like they're being sold to. That's not to say you can't sell to them. You can - but you have to do it in the way that Twitter users appreciate. Twitter users want to hear breaking news. They want to hear about things straight from the horse's mouth, before any other media outlet. They want to hear about things from you, before it reaches them through the grapevine. They want exclusivity. They want special content, special deals, special treatment that they can't get elsewhere. If your product is being sold by Google AdWords at ÂŁ19.99, then you definitely shouldn't tweet a "sale" for ÂŁ19.99. They want to feel valued. If they get the sense that you're treating Twitter as a marketing channel or that you're just trying to sell to them, they'll stop following you faster than you can say "tweet." They also want to feel communicated with. They want to have a two-way conversation, rather than just a one-sided blast. If your Twitter users feel like you care about them and have a pulse on their needs and wants, they're much more likely to reciprocate. For better or for worse, there's an instantaneous nature to the culture of Twitter. If someone tweets a complaint about your company, you'd better be there to respond quickly. On the bright side, however, if you cater to this instantaneous nature, Twitter users will feel an instant bond and rapport with you and your company. Learn the Twitter Protocol There's a specific protocol you need to learn in order to properly communicate with tweeters. Twitter has its own language, as well as its own culture. In order to "talk to" tweeters, you must "speak Twitter."
Here are some of the most important phrases and concepts you need to understand before you start marketing your business on Twitter. * The hashtag - The hashtag makes it easy for people to search for specific topics. For example, if you ask your users a question and tell them to tweet responses with #alabamby, the user would type in their message and add #alabamby to the end of the tag. * #FF (Follow Friday) - On Fridays, Twitter users will often give recommendations to their friends about who they might want to follow. They do this with the "follow Friday" hashtag, #FF. * @reply - This is a direct message sent from one tweeter to another. If someone sends you an @reply, you should generally respond. * RT, Retweet, PRT, Please RT, etc. - These are all abbreviations of retweet or please retweet. * Trending topics - A trending topic is a topic on Twitter that's currently very popular. Twitter displays a list of trending topics on their front page. If you can tweet about trending topics and link it to your company, you can often get a lot of traffic. These are a few of the most important things about Twitter protocol. One final thing. People new to Twitter often ask the question: "How often should I tweet?" The answer is that it really depends. While you shouldn't tweet just to fill up space, you also shouldn't leave your account untweeted for too long. In general, wait until you have something great to say before you tweet. That said, how often you tweet really depends on your personal brand and your company's image. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey tweets every day, whether it's meaningful or meaningless. United Airlines on the other hand, wouldn't tweet at all unless they had something vital to say. Find your own voice and style. Try to make every tweet carry weight, but also try not to go too long without tweeting. Going Viral - Emotions that Trigger Virality In order to have your tweets go viral, you need to hit on one or more of the "viral emotions."
If you examine the most tweeted topics at any given time, or the most passed-on YouTube videos, or the most voted Reddit topics, you'll find several common themes among the topics presented. The things that tend to get passed along on the internet usually have one or more of the following aspects in them: * Shock or surprise - Something is so shocking or surprising that people have a visceral emotional reaction to it. After seeing the tweet, link, video or web page, they can't help but feel that their friends should see it too because it was so surprising or shocking. * Humour - The TV series "$#*! My Dad Says" was launched in part by hilarious tweets that went viral. Though Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters, there is still a lot of humor that can fit in that limited space. Things that are funny are often passed along online. In fact, if you can add some real humor to your tweets, that alone will increase your virality. * News - Tweets that are highly relevant to news topics or reveal new information about topics people care about tend to get passed along. * Caring - Believe it or not, tweets that inspire people to care get passed along quite a bit as well. For example, the Haiti fund has raised a lot of money and awareness through viral Twitter tweets. In short, the more emotions you can trigger with a tweet, the higher its likelihood of going viral. Even if you trigger typically "negative" emotions by being controversial, you'll still get more response than if you didn't trigger any emotions at all. Make your tweets emotionally charged and your tweets will go much further. Rule: Create Things that Stand Out Remember that most Twitter users follow hundreds, sometimes even thousands of companies. In addition to other tweeters, you're also competing for attention from just about every distraction on the internet. You want users to pay attention to what you have to say instead of checking Facebook, email or the news.
In order to do so, you need to create things that stand out. Unfortunately, there isn't one set formula of what stands out. For Southwest Airlines, the video of their pilot rapping to their passengers before lift-off stood out. It showed the light-heartedness and spirit of the company. For Old Spice, the "I'm on a Horse" ad campaign stood out because of its sheer weirdness and personality. For Ricky Gervais, his insulting Golden Globe speech (and subsequent comments by Twitter) stood out because he insulted the whole film industry unapologetically. The bottom line is, your tweets need to jump out of the "generic bin" of tweets and catch someone's attention. That person should have such a reaction to your material that they also feel compelled to share it with their friends. If you can make your tweets both attention catching and emotional, you have a sure-fire formula for a viral Twitter reaction. Tie Twitter in with Your Website One of the most powerful ways to get more Twitter followers and higher virality on your tweets is to tie your Twitter account in with your website. There are many ways to do this. First of all, have a follow button on your main website. This allows people who land on your website and may not know you had a Twitter account to easily follow you. On every one of your posts, web pages or specific items of interest, have the option to tweet it out. For example, if you have a unique item for sale on your site, people may want to tweet out to their friends what they just found. This works especially well if your website has some of the viral elements we discussed above. Twitter offers several pre-set buttons you can use to add to your site, including the "Follow" button and the "Tweet" button. The benefit of using Twitter's buttons is that everyone is already used to seeing them and clicking on them.
Alternatively, you can design your own buttons. You can create more unique looks and make your buttons bigger than Twitter's default buttons. Build a Dynamic Customer Relationship Building relationships with Twitter followers is a lot like building relationships offline. How people want to be treated online is exactly how they want to be treated offline; except that people are more fickle and decisions are made on a more split-second level. In order to build a following, you need to make sure that the "vibe" of your online community is that of a two-way conversation. The more impersonal your Twitter feed feels, the less people will interact with you. The more it feels like a "brand from above" spouting tweets to followers, the more people will avoid you. On the other hand, the more you make it clear that you're there for your customers, that you respect them and treat them specially, the more they'll respond. The more you listen to and respond to your customer's concerns, the more you'll facilitate the growth of your community. In short, make friends with your customers. Do what it takes for customers to actually like interacting with you and your brand. Increase Virality with Smart Following It's important not only that you get the people you want to follow you, but also that you're following the right people. You don't just want to have a one-sided interaction with the twittersphere. One big mistake online business owners often make is trying to get a lot of followers without actually following anyone themselves. This tells customers that you're not really there to interact; instead you're there to broadcast a message. There are a few groups of people you should really be following on Twitter.
First, follow your competitors. Whenever your competitor makes an announcement, you should know. If they're having trouble, you should know. If some sort of news event has an effect on your industry, you should know. Also follow your top customers. Many businesses find that 60% to 80% of their revenues come from just a handful of customers. You absolutely want to be following those customers. It also makes sense to follow your competitor's customers. If they ever express dissatisfaction with your competitor, you can be there to meet their needs. If they ever tweet about something they want or are looking for, you will be there to take advantage of the opportunity. Finally, follow anyone who you find interesting. In short, follow people you like, much like how a typical Twitter user would. Smart following can help you win customers and influencers. Follow the major players in your industry. Following the right people can sometimes be even more important than putting out the right tweets. Contests Can Go Viral Very Quickly One of the most effective viral marketing tools online is contests. Guidepal recently launched an iPhone app designed to help travelers figure out where to go in various cities. To get the app kick-started, they created a contest and promoted it via Twitter and Facebook. The prize was an around-the-world plane ticket, which usually costs around $5,000. Because the prize was so appealing to the traveler's community, the contest quickly spread. Through Twitter and Facebook, the contest won them far more publicity and traffic than the cost of the tickets. A brand that nobody had heard of before started to build momentum in the traveler community. This is just one example of how contests can help build businesses. All you need to run a successful contest is a compelling prize and enough of a following to launch the contest. Then, assuming the prize really is compelling, the traffic will snowball and people will come out of the woodwork to compete.
Affiliate marketers have often given away top-of-the-line laptops as prizes. What might people in your market really appreciate? What can you give away that people would be willing to compete for? Try running a contest on Twitter. The virality of the traffic will almost always outweigh your financial investment. Ask for the Retweet One of the most simple yet effective ways to get more retweets is to just ask. Most people scan Twitter. They see a feed of tweet after tweet and only stop at the ones that really draw their attention. If you do draw their attention, take full advantage of it. Remember, people are in "scan mode" rather than in "dig mode," meaning they might not necessarily think of what you want them to do in that moment. If what you want is for them to retweet your tweet, tell them specifically to do it. If you want them to click a link, tell them that. If you want them to join a contest, tell them that. Be specific about actionable tweets. Tell people what you want them to do. For retweets, you can also use an abbreviation like "Please RT" or Retweet or even PRT to ask for the action. How Viral Are You? Perform a Search! How effective has your viral campaign been? How viral are your competitors' campaigns? How well known is your brand online? Find out by using Twitter's search features, located at: http://search.twitter.com There are a few ways to use Twitter's search features effectively. The first way is to do a search for your company name or product name. What are people saying about your company? Are there complaints you can respond to? Are people saying good things? Are they retweeting your tweets?
You can also perform the same search on your competitors to learn about them. In addition, you can run a search on specific hashtags. If you asked people to reply to a post with a hashtag, that makes it very easy to search for responses - all you need to do is type that hashtag into the search. Search for phrases, names and hashtags regularly to keep a pulse on how viral your brand is on Twitter. Use Twitter as a Fire Extinguisher One of Twitter's most powerful aspects is its instantaneous power. Unlike sending out a press release or a well-crafted email, which both take time and often don't get read, Twitter gives you to ability to funnel your message directly to your customers instantly. This can really come in handy when a PR emergency or customer service mishap happens. Contrast these two scenarios: United Airlines breaks a customer's guitar and fails to reimburse the customer. The customer creates a YouTube song video about the mishap. The video goes viral and gets over 10 million views. United's response is to issue a press release, which ultimately is never read. Needless to say, the video had serious repercussions to United Airlines' brand. Zappos on the other hand, also faced a serious PR threat at one point when they had to lay off staff in order to stay profitable. In a down market, layoffs can often signal to investors and customers that a company is in trouble. Instead of shying away from the attention, Zappos encouraged its employees to tweet honestly about the situation. By being brutally honest about what was going on, they showed that the company was still strong and that the employees still believed in the company, by communication through Twitter directly with their customers. Twitter has the power to be one of the fastest "fire extinguishers" around. It can help you get the "good stuff" about your business out into the world, but it can also help you put out PR nightmares faster than any other medium on the net.
The Viral Marketing Power of Twitter If used well, Twitter can help you get your message out to thousands upon thousands of users faster than just about any other medium in the world. In this report, we've discussed what particular attributes make tweets go viral. We've talked about how to track your company's progress, as well as specific tactics like hosting contests via Twitter. We've also brushed upon other business applications of Twitter, such as using Twitter to quickly put out PR fires. You should by now have a solid enough understanding of Twitter to start building your Twitter presence. Get started today - don't wait. The sooner you start, the more followers you'll have. Each and every follower will then snowball into more and more followers. Get that snowball process started today.