Twitterday: Twitter with results

Today is Twitterday because twitter exists exactly four years today! (March 21, 2010). Twitter could bring companies a lot if it is properly used and embedded. It could give organisations knowledge, inspiration and feedback. Therefore, I will bring you into the world of Twitter! A question that I think lives in many companies. It was decided to go on twitter to increase marketing objectives, expanding the target group and to make this target group more involved with the brand and the products. Only how to use Twitter as an organisation? As with any communication medium an organization should consider the deployment of a medium. Twitter should indicate a clear goal, that could be measured. In addition, it should create clarity for your target audience. Using Twitter as an organization is obviously different than using twitter as a person. I think you can use Twitter in three ways: passive, active and reactive.

Passive use
Passive use covers monitoring of the online reputation and is very is important for companies. What is being said about your business and is this attention positive or negative?

Reactive use
It feels good for the consumer to notice that his criticism is heard and used. Consumers will often criticize your organisation when you give feedback to your target group about what you do with the criticism. Many organisations are not so eager for this approach. Creating a platform for whining seems negative. They complain anyway. The best thing you can do is to make sure that they do this to you! Create a twitter account where people can communicate with you, and use it to provide feedback. Give the audience faith in you as an organisation and then get it back from them.

Active use
The company maintains its reputation online and gives feedback to what they do with criticism. A next step would be to ask for criticism from your audience! Get information from them, Crowd Sourcing via Twitter.

What certainly not to do…
Overwhelmingly presence online can damage your online reputation. If you continuously say that you have a new product, people experience this as annoying. By responding on anything "because it is the company policy" a reaction can be experienced as meaningless. Take your audience seriously. Use twitter, but sparingly.

Social media marketing

Companies like Apple, Nike and Vodafone are standing in line to advertise on his blog. I'm talking about the blogger Nalden, who became famous with a good idea and a good set of brains. His blog has become the brand Nalden! Here's an example of how social media can be used effectively.

Who is this blogger
Nalden started blogging in 2002 for friends about mainly music and parties. Soon he attracted an audience down in the Netherlands and abroad with his inspirational messages about music. Meanwhile, he won 2 Dutch Bloggies, one for lifestyle and one for design (prize for best Dutch blogger). He is also in the Decemberissue of ‘Vrij Nederland’. Nalden is no longer blogging just about music anymore but about all things in his life that he finds interesting. He selects only what he finds cool: music, design, parties, advertising, gadgets, technology, architecture, art etc. Nalden is often the first one to come with new stuff. He brings unknown artists to the attention and puts cool brands on his stage. Nalden is a blogger with a celebrity status. He has a big influence, people and businesses want to be seen and associated with him. Take a look @ his blog: http://www.nalden.net/

Make money with a blog
The weblog of Nalden provides access to national, young, hip, creative and often wealthy people. This is a very interesting audience but difficult to reach for advertisers. These are people who lead the way in trends, fashion, design, gadgets, technology and music. A group called influentials in marketing jargon. Their opinion counts. They are of great value to advertisers because they are the key to a lager audience. These people are difficult to reach, media wise and are distrustful towards commercial messages. They are more able to figure out what they want for their selves. Through his blog advertisers come in contact with these groups. Nalden has devised a business model and makes al lot of money with it. He sells advertising space to brands on his blog in the form of wallpapers. Brands pay big money to be visually present on Nalden’s Blog. These wallpapers are downloadable for visitors, who can put these on their hyves page, mobile phone or PC desktop. Nalden is extremely picky when it comes to selecting wallpapers for his blog. Nalden does not promises advertisers more site visitors. He makes them part of the Nalden experience and promises that his visitors will talk about the brands, online and offline.

What is his trick, technique, tip or secret?
I think a lot of companies can learn a lot from Nalden's marketing strategy. Consumers have become increasingly elusive. How can companies ensure that they are being noticed by the audience? Companies currently have three choices. In summary these are the options: First of all, they can entertain their audience. Secondly, they can appear as a reviewer and give their opinion. Finally, companies can communicate with their audience. Start a conversation with them and 'really' listen to them. Most brands choose one strategy. What is Nalden's trick, technique, tip or secret? He unites all three strategies. He is not only the entertainer, he also gives his opinion and he invites people to give their opinion by using social media like twitter and hyves.