Despite the interesting profile of the Twitter user (more about that profile in the related posts below this one), many companies still have to find the way to Twitter.
It varies from country to country, but let’s face it, most successful examples in terms of Twitter and marketing come from the U.S.
If you know good Twitter cases from other countries, please share them with me, I’ll explain why later.
The vast majority of businesses has a “wait and see” attitude regarding Twitter. Just like most marketers had that exact same attitude in the early years of Internet.
Twitter and marketing: what’s the value?
Let me prove this attitude by reminding you of a survey. Last year, a study of bigmouthmedia and Econsultancy showed that 31% of British companies and agencies felt that Twitter offered ‘tremendous opportunities’ but half of those surveyed said that “their companies were open-minded but not fully convinced of the value Twitter can bring to their business”.
The skeptical attitude of many companies is in sharp contrast to the initiatives of leading companies in marketing, CRM, customer service, etc. that are integrating Twitter in their platforms.
Perhaps the cautious attitude of businesses is due to a lack of knowledge, metrics, case studies and best practices, both in terms of the possibilities of Twitter and in terms of return on investment.
Twitter requires, like other social media, commitments, resources and a dialogue on the long term. All this has direct and indirect costs.
Social media marketing and the return on marketing investment
Moreover, many companies focus too much on (the return of) Twitter as such and forget to look at the broader marketing context.
My advice is to do both. Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) and Marketing ROI is both a matter of watching the (expected) ROI of your marketing efforts on a micro-level (like in this case a specific “medium”) and at the same time is a method that should look at the bigger picture, like all social media marketing initiatives, all interactive marketing efforts and even the entire marketing plan. Marketing ROI needs to be used for micro- and macro-levels at the same time.
I think this is a lesson many marketers still have to learn. And I admit that including ROI, which in the end is a financial parameter, is new to many marketers. However, it’s only by using ROMI as a parameter that they will get their marketing plans approved in the future.
This, combined with Twitter marketing case studies that clearly show the results, is what will make businesses consider using social media marketing in general and Twitter in particular.
It wasn’t any different when online marketing was born: advertisers needed cases, metrics and best practices. It’s the job of those who claim to be social media marketing experts to share and provide them.
Some related posts:
– Twitter users are influential: more data
– How (and why) to follow people on Twitter
– Planning to start using Twitter? Some basic mistakes to avoid
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