The 140 Characters Conference (140Conf) was the first of its kind conference in NYC on June 16-17 2009, about the effects of Twitter on various industries. Mahesh Murthy of Pinstorm was invited to speak there. Here is his presentation.

1. @maheshmurthy
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Marketing with Twitter.
10 minutes, 10 thoughts.

2. @maheshmurthy
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Pinstorm is a pay-for-
performance digital ad firm with
offices in India, USA, China,
Switzerland, Singapore, M’sia.
I live an 18-hour flight from here 
Where Twitter came to life on 26/11
~650,000 Tweeters

3. @maheshmurthy
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1. With apologies to @zappos,
Twitter can be a great marketing
tool.
Let’s not bemoan loss of purity, virginity et al 
But if not done well, brand will #fail.

4. @maheshmurthy
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2. In fact, it’s important for
Twitter to succeed as a
marketing tool for it to survive.
Search without AdWords?
Blogs without AdSense?
CNN without ads?
Twitter needs to find its marketing model – for
all our sakes!

5. @maheshmurthy
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3. Existing digital marketing
models won’t work with Twitter.
Display/CPM and Search/CPx
both unsuited. There WILL be
RoI – but not sales-based.
Accountable advertising here to stay.
We need to invent a new model.
Our suggestion:

6. @maheshmurthy
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4. Perhaps brands on Twitter
need CRM: Cult Relationship
Management.
Successful brands need to tend to their flock.
Advantage to smaller/cultish brands: HD over
Honda? Diesel over Levi’s?
How do leaders respond?

7. @maheshmurthy
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5. Four step process:
i. Sniff to invite
Search for people talking about you, ask them
BRAND

8. @maheshmurthy
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5. Four step process:
i. Sniff to invite
ii. Small updates to show value
From 1x to 3x per week?
→→
BRAND

9. @maheshmurthy
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5. Four step process:
i. Sniff to invite
ii. Small updates to show value
iii. Big bang to get big RTs
Something newsmaking. 1x to 3x per quarter?
→→
BRAND

10. @maheshmurthy
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What kind of ‘small updates’ and
‘big bangs can brands offer? In
character with brand and its
openness to communicate.
Can Coke offer music downloads?
Can Nike updates=news on runner times?
Can Microsoft be Scoble – or Scoble2?
Can Apple… say nothing as usual? 

11. @maheshmurthy
@
5. Four step process:
i. Sniff to invite
ii. Small updates to show value
iii. Big bang to get big RTs
iv. Sniff to invite
Track the RTers
→→
BRAND

12. @maheshmurthy
@
5. Four step process:
i. Sniff to invite
ii. Small updates to show value
iii. Big bang to get big RTs
iv. Sniff to invite
Repeat.
→→ →→ →→
BRAND

13. @maheshmurthy
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6. Cult Relationship
Management: start finding self-
appointed tribe leaders. Anoint
them as middle management.
Use Twinfluence / other power tools to find
evangelists among followers.
Support them – help them talk well of you.
Don’t pay, but offer employee-like benefits.

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7. Explore branding presence?

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7. Explore branding presence?
Coca-cola

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7. Explore branding presence?
Add me @cocacola
Sponsor a hashtag?

17. @maheshmurthy
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7. Explore branding presence?
Add me @cocacola

18. @maheshmurthy
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8. Brand and tactical
messaging. The need for sub-
namespaces.
If I sell in 200 countries and manage 5
communities in each, don’t ask me to book
and market 1,000 names.
@Ev – can you offer @nike, @nike.*, @nike.us,
@nike.us.deals etc that are easy to find?

19. @maheshmurthy
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9. In-house goes to the
outhouse. Big brands just can’t
manage it internally. How many
of your folks can speak for you?
Agencies are trained to do so.
The rise of a new discipline.

20. @maheshmurthy
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10. Integrate – or disintegrate.
All specialists will be obsolete.
The era of generalists.
Large brands can’t handle diverse specialists
* diverse geographies.
Twitter specialists will go the way of Paid
Search Specialists or TV commercial
specialists – be absorbed into generalist orgs.

21. @maheshmurthy
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Thank you!