A comprehensive guide to Twitter for brands As usual, comments are more than welcome Cheers, Enzo

1. What is your brand doing?
A comprehensive guide to Twitter brought to you by
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2. What is Twitter?
๏ Twi$er is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you to answer the
ques9on "What are you doing?"
๏ Although the dialogue box is a way of telling users ‘what you are doing’, the tool is mostly
used for sharing informa9on and thoughts as well as star9ng dialogues. Brands are certainly
star9ng to u9lise the Twi$er service in this way...
Whdoing you
๏ It’s like upda9ng your Facebook status, however your updates, commonly called Tweets, are
limited to 140 characters each.
๏ Launched in 2006 with a fan base comprised of techies, social media gurus, geeks and
at are?
journalists, Twi$er has only recently reached the mainstream audience.
๏ Users are embracing Twi$er as a plaMorm for communica9ng with friends, like minded
individuals and influen9al personali9es.
๏ The service has been recognized as the ‘SMS of the Internet’; changing the way people
communicate online and share relevant and interes9ng content
๏ Twi$er is not only enhancing rela9onships between individuals but also empowering the
community with a digital voice.
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3. Who is Tweeting?
๏ People using Twi$er are generally referred to as ‘Tweeps’
๏ The first tweeps to embrace this plaMorm were the media types,
journalists, social media gurus, marke9ng trendse$ers and geeks.
๏ However, when celebri9es and TV personali9es began to engage with
their fans on Twi$er, their ac9vity tapped into the mainstream audience;
causing the new tool to be hailed as the latest social media craze.
๏ As a result , a myriad of brands are now using the plaMorm to connect
with their consumers and fans (ref. slide 6 for more details).
๏ Users commonly use the plaMorm to connect with like‐minded people,
share interes9ng content, and connect with their favourite brands.
๏ This digital phenomenon resulted in the crea9on of digital ‘Tribes’ ‐ groups
of like‐minded individuals who find each other due to shared interests.
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4. The Global Audience
๏ At present, the mainstream audience is yet to fully embrace Twi$er (unlike Facebook), with the
plaMorm s9ll being used sporadically amongst the non‐ac9ve audience (NOTE: 21% of Twi$er accounts
are inac9ve).
๏ The US is s9ll accountable for the majority of the global traffic (40%), however, markets like Japan, Spain
and the UK are rapidly growing. As a collec9ve, they are responsible for more than half of the traffic of
the remaining 60% of global traffic (see graph below).
๏ Although the Twi$er user profile depicted below is based on US demographics, we can confidently refer
to the breakdown as a representa9on of tweeps on a global scale.
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5. Why should your brand consider Twitter?
๏ Twi$er is about informal collabora9on and quick informa9on sharing.
๏ For brands, it allows transparent and personal one‐to‐one conversa9ons with the
consumer.
๏ It’s about listening to your poten3al and exis3ng customers and establishing
trustworthy rela3onships. This can help your business get closer to them...
๏ It provides a plaMorm for meaningful and concise communica9on.
๏ There are an abundance of various ‘tribes’ your
brand could relate to and establish meaningful
rela9onships with. You can learn from them!
๏ It’s an opportunity for you as a brands to
demonstrate accountability by being authen9c,
approachable and transparent.
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6. How brands are using Twitter
๏ Brands are par*cipa*ng on Twi1er in different ways, such as:
๏ Building Communi9es
๏ Customer Service (Reputa9on and Crisis Management)
๏ Selling & Running Promo9ons
๏ Product Development & Collabora9on
๏ Branding and Awareness
๏ Fundraising / Non‐profit
๏ Staff Recruitment
๏ In the next few slides, you will find examples of both
successful and not‐so‐successful case studies.
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7. The Good Tweeple: @Zappos (CEO)
๏ Tony took his love and enthusiasm for digital and created a
personal connec9on between himself, his brand, his
employees and his customers.
๏ What does he do? He directly responds to consumer
complaints, gives cool stuff away for free and writes wi$y and
amusing personal updates.
๏ Using Twi$er, Tony has become both a one man customer
service machine and a brand ambassador for his company.
๏ More than 880,000 people are following Tony and Zappos
updates, a considerable figure.
๏ 430 employees are regularly Twee9ng about Zappos and
following Tony’s enthusiasm for the company and their CEO.
๏ As a result Zappos debuted in 23rd place on Fortune’s ‘100
Best Companies to Work For’.
๏ Their brand statement has now changed to ...
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8. The Good Tweeple: @DellOutlet
๏DellOutlet is one of the best stories of big brands who use
social media effec9vely.
๏What began in June 2007 as a project ini9ated by Richard
Binhammer, Dell’s Telecommunica9on Officer, has grown into
a mul9‐million dollar revenue stream.
๏DellOutlet is a Twi$er account owned by Dell that tweets
about major discounts on products. All promo9ons featured
on @DellOutlet are Twi$er‐exclusive.
๏Soon aqer its introduc9on to the social media world, the
outlet began to expand, crea9ng buzz, re‐tweets, and most
importantly, lots of followers.
๏Within the first year Dell made over $1m dollars exclusively
from Twi$er.
๏DellOutlet is fundamental proof that Twi$er can be a lucra9ve
plaMorm and a win‐win scenario for both the consumer (who
gets a great deal) and the company (who not only generates
revenue but also gains invaluable consumer insight).
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9. The Good Tweeple: @KogiBBQ
๏ Kogi is a mobile Korean BBQ truck that tweets.
๏ Similar to a modern day treasure hunt, Kogi tweets
daily to their 34,000+ followers with an update on the
trucks loca9on that night.
๏ Kogi’s Truck tweets a$ract 300 to 800 foodies each 9me
it parks, now thats food for thought.
๏ This Twi$er ini9a9ve has resulted in over 178 posi9ve
press ar9cles tou9ng Kogi as an LA food phenomenon.
๏ Kogi has received unprecedented coverage given its
modest budget and has produced a cyber‐hippie
movement, affec9onately referred to as "Kogi kulture".
๏ Twi$er has now become the only media plaMorm
through which Kogi is promo9ng its BBQ business.
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10. The Good Tweeple: @CoffeeGroundz
๏ It began with an exchange between a CoffeeGroundz
regular and J.R. Cohen, Opera9ons Manager for
CoffeeGroundz (tweets on the leq).
๏ Today, CoffeeGroundz has 5,800+ followers who Tweet for
more than just coffee; they reserve tables and even place
orders from the pa9o.
๏ Tweet‐Ups are another event at CoffeeGroundz which
a$ract around 200 people per event, 15% of whom are
new customers.
๏ At Thanksgiving, CG tweeted a 10% discount for bringing in
a non perishable food item; raising over 300lbs of food for
the local food bank.
๏ CoffeeGroundz has enjoyed a substan9al amount of
exposure for its Twi$er ac9vity and was recently featured
in the local news.
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11. The Good Tweeple: @BakerTweet & @AlbionsOven
๏ A wall‐mountable device designed to withstand extreme kitchen
condi9ons, BakerTweet allows bakers to update loyal customers
about fresh bread using tweets.
๏ Bakers create an account online with BakerTweet and input all the
baked items they want to Tweet about as well as the Tweet they
want to send out for each product.
๏ The wall‐mountable BakerTweet box captures the informa9on.
๏ Bakers turn a dial to select the item they want to Tweet about,
push a bu$on and send the Tweet to their followers.
๏ Albion Bakery in Shoreditch (London) was the first to adopt the
new technology and a perfect example of their automated tweets
can be found here on the leq. (Follow @AlbionsOven).
๏ Followers receive a tweet in real‐9me and can then head to the
bakery for their favourite fresh baked goods while they’re s9ll hot.
๏ BakerTweet is a new technology that can be used by any business
that needs to communicate easily in real 9me about offers,
pricing, stock or other informa9on.
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12. Tweets Behaving Badly: Ketchum & FedEx
๏ Whilst on a business trip to Memphis, Vice President of
digital agency Ketchum managed to offend lucra9ve client
FedEx, by pos9ng a less than polite tweet about Memphis.
(see the tweet on the leq)
๏ What was supposed to be a meaningless, passing comment
resulted in a backlash that had the client ques9oning the
professionalism and general respect of the agency being
represented by one of its most senior members.
๏ The VP, James Andrews made an official apology and all
was made good, however, the repercussions for his ac9ons
were damning and caused his agency considerable
embarrassment.
๏ The career of James Andrews at Ketchum soon came to an
end following this fiasco.
๏ The moral of this story? In the Twi$er world, the only
control you have is what you tweet, so choose what you
say/share wisely, because tweets tend to travel beyond
your followers i.e. keyword search, re‐tweet etc.
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13. Tweets Behaving Badly: @HabitatUK
๏ In a desperate a$empt for followers HabitatUK turned up on Twi$er,
and decided to use trending topic #hashtags at the start of their
tweets to get no9ced.
๏ Habitat used hashtags that had absolutely nothing to do with
furniture, decora9ng, or shopping.
๏ To add insult to injury, HabitatUK even used an Iranian elec9on
hashtag. (see leq)
๏ The Twi$er community made their disappointment clear to
@HabitatUK (See ini9al tweets at h$p://bit.ly/2cca0E).
๏ HabitatUK posted an official apology, on the blog where it all
started. (h$p://bit.ly/IvtoQ) However, the controversy did not cease
there as @HabitatUK came under fire once again for shiqing the
blame on to an intern who was then fired for a mistake made due to
lack of training.
๏ Exploi9ng trending topic #hashtags to gain exposure, especially for
an established and respected brand like Habitat, not only looks
desperate but disregards the needs of the brand’s Twi$er followers.
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14. Advertising with a Tweet... not working so far!
๏ Many are the brands that have embraced Twi$er as the primary tool for their ‘adver9sing plaMorm’
HOWEVER, few have succeeded in doing this effec9vely, all for various reasons... (i.e. lack of relevant
content, not engaging enough, sporadic ac9vity, spamming etc...).
๏ Below are a few examples of Twi$er ‘campaigns’ gone wrong. If you require further details, please make
sure you put forward any queries you may have.
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15. Canʼt take my eyes off my Tweets
๏ Brands must con9nuously manage conversa9ons. (i.e. If a person asks a
ques9on, the brand needs to respond quickly ‐ almost without delay).
๏ It is generally recommended to appoint an individual to be responsible for
monitoring the account. This person would be trained in how to become
the human voice behind the brand and would have total control over your
content.
๏ Keeping track of conversa9ons that are relevant to your brand is simple ‐ it
can be easily done using official search engines and alert tools.
๏ Because these are real 9me conversa9ons, as a brand you will not have
9me to approve/moderate everything. This is why seyng brand guidelines
for this environment is key.
๏ Hashtags (i.e. #socialglue) is an effec9ve form of monitoring conversa9ons
around your brand or a unique ac9vity/campaign * For more on hashtags,
please read this: h$p://twi$er.pbworks.com/Hashtags.
๏ With the introduc9on of trackable shortened URL tools (i.e. bit.ly, 9nyurl,
etc...) you can now manage users’ response levels. Doing this, you will be
able to understand what content your audience prefer to engage with!
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16. The Tweet-effect
๏ If you use Twi1er correctly, there are few things your brand can
benefit from and improve...
➡ The rela9onship with your consumers. There is no be$er way of
interac9ng with your consumers than through meaningful one‐to‐one
conversa9ons on Twi$er.
➡ The way people perceive your brand. Opening up to your consumers,
engaging them with relevant content and listening to them, are only few
of the ac9ons that will help improve how people view your brand.
➡ Create advocacy. This is your chance to make your brand more
approachable and authen9c. If you are valuable and relevant, they will
engage with you, share your helpful content and talk about the ‘good
things you do’.
➡ Improve your natural search ranking. Simply having a presence on
Twi$er and sharing links coming from your site will automa9cally
improve your natural search rankings. If your followers re‐post this
content, this will improve even more.
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17. Careful Tweeting Out There...
๏ We have previously men*oned the need to establish brand guidelines
before using Twi1er. Here are a few things you may want to keep in
mind...
➡ Never step into compe9tors’ conversa9ons. You can analyze and evaluate what they
are doing from the outside but do not get involved.
➡ Be careful how you reply, and to what. Some9mes users will have delicate ques9ons
which you may wish to ignore. Ul6mately you cannot ignore users, however you
can message them directly as opposed to addressing these specific queries publicly.
(i.e. when ques9oning new product developments...) ‐ more oqen then not they
will understand the sensi9vity of the topic.
➡ Be relevant and consistent. If you start twee9ng irrelevant content or your ac9vity
becomes sporadic or sparse, your followers will lose interest. Remember: It is
extremely easy for them to click the ‘unfollow’ bu$on...
➡ Have a personality. It is very important to give a human voice to your brand. Users
would rather talk to Jack at Mercedes than to a faceless brand. In doing this, it will
become easier for your brand to connect and build rela9onships. Consumers will
feel closer to you this way! (see Slide 7, Zappos is a perfect example).
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18. What is Cyber Squatting?
๏ Cyber squayng is the illegal act of registering a domain name
with the intent to profit from a trademark belonging to
someone else.
๏ The ‘cyber squa$er’ then offers to sell the domain to the
person or company who owns the trademark at an inflated
price
(see example on right).
๏ Cyber squayng is not a new problem on the web, however, it
is a new trend in the social realm, and fast emerging on
Twi$er (see American Express example right).
๏ Some brands have chosen to tackle the issue by registering
varia9ons of their name and then making it clear which is the
official page.
๏ i.e. Debenhams recently registered Debenhamsretail
WHSmith registered WHSmithcouk.
๏ If you decide to register your name, you also need to think
about a communica9on strategy that u9lises the tool well.
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19. Top Brands using Twitter
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20. To Tweet or not to Tweet ?
๏ Your presence on Twi$er has to be part of an overarching integrated
strategy around your brand posi9oning. Your communica9ons strategy
is a constant, NOT a big push plan.
๏ If you answer ‘YES’ to any of the following ques9ons, then Twi$er may
be a strong fit for your communica9ons strategy.
1) Do you want to build a personal and meaningful interac3ve rela3onship
with fans?
2) Do you have content you’d like to share on a regular basis that is
relevant and interes3ng to your fans?
3) Does your brand want to build a community that will provide learnings
for future campaigns?
4) Do you want to build an audience you can collaborate with for future
business/product development?
5) Are you prepared to risk losing control over content your brand talks
about, interacts with or shares?
๏ Remember: The Twi$er community is an ever growing collabora9ve
place where people highly engage with your content!
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21. Are you Tweet-sold ?
๏ If you want to discuss Twi$er further with us, help with signing up, or if you have any specific
ques9ons, please do not hesitate to be in touch with your Hive BeeKeeper from the list below:
Beijing E*enne E9enne.Chia@profero.com
Hong Kong Henry Henry.Wood@profero.com
London Vincenzo Vincenzo@profero.com
Madrid Rafael Rafael.Jimenez@profero.com
Milan Luca Luca.Armari@profero.com
Munich Nikolaus N.Schmi$‐Walter@plan‐net.de
Emily.Woolf@profero.com
hank You!
New York Emily
Paris William William.Troillard@plan‐net.fr
Shangai Taylor Taylor.Bux@profero.com
Singapore John Ng John.Ng@profero.com
Sydney Shailei Shailei.Forrester@profero.com
Tokyo Peter Peter.Moody@profero.com
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