The Circuit on September 24, 2009 - Breakfast BYTES Doug Ross, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Western & Southern Financial Group (W&S) presented this outstanding Breakfast BYTES presentation on the Enterprise Use of Twitter.

1. The Business Side of Twitter
Presentation to The Circuit
Information Services R&D
September 24, 2009

2. Summary
• Perception vs. Reality
• Forrester’s Social Technographic Ladder
• Twitter’s Growing Influence
• Spectator: Watch the Brand
• Joiner: Protect the Brand
• Creator: Lead the Pack
• Bridging the Virtual and Physical
• Q&A
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3. Perception vs. Reality
Perception
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4. Perception vs. Reality
Reality
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5. The Basics
• Twitter: free social networking and micro-blog service
• Users send and receive messages known as tweets
• Tweets are text-based posts up to 140 characters long
• Users can choose to send and receive tweets via SMS
• Tweets are only delivered to a user’s followers
• By default, anyone can follow a user, but restricted
delivery (locked updates) is permitted
• Through the Twitter API, a wide range of applications
can interact with the service
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6. The Basics: http://twitter.com/WSJ
Microblog
Who WSJ follows
and who are WSJ’s
followers
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7. The Basics: http://twitter.com/WSJ
Twitter works best with a content management system; if
you don’t have a way to rapidly update your website
content, Twitter effectiveness is greatly diminished
• Blogs work well
• Shortened URLs
• Rules, regs, disclosures
• Rich content
• Offers, entry forms
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8. The Basics: URL shortening
Twitter expects that most hyperlinks (URLs) are
shortened because of the character limit; examples of
third-party URL shortening services include:
• tinyurl.com
• bit.ly
• ow.ly
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9. The Basics: Plethora of Clients Available
• Twitter: the basic web interface
• HootSuite: web-based, multi-account management
• Twhirl: thick-client (AIR), multi-account management
• TweetDeck: thick-client (AIR)
• TwitterFeed: feed RSS (blog posts) into Twitter
• TweetFunnel: team
tweeting for business users
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10. The Basics: Commands (web, phone, etc.)
• F wsj – become a follower
• @wsj nice work on the Citi article! – public message
• D wsj it’s a secret! – direct, private message
• whois wsj – basic info
• get wsj – retrieve latest update
• stats – list my stats (# of followers, etc.)
• invite 513-555-1234 – ask cellphone user to join/follow
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11. The Basics: Unofficial Conventions
• RT wsj dow up 90 today – re-tweet (relay) a message
• RT wsj #djia up 90 today – hash tag (# prefix)
Hash tags are used to categorize tweets, examples are:
– #music
– #quote
– #jobs
– #phone
– #news
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12. Forrester: Social Technographics Ladder
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13. Forrester: Social Technographics Ladder
More than 80%
of online
U.S. adults
participate
in one or
more social
networks
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14. Twitter’s Growing Influence
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15. Twitter’s Growing Influence
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16. Usage by Demographic (55+)
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17. Usage by Demographic (45-54)
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18. Usage by Demographic (35-44)
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19. Usage by Demographic (25-34)
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20. Usage by Demographic (18-24)
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21. Spectator: Watch the Brand
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22. Spectator: Search
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23. Spectator: Twendz
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24. Spectator: Monitter
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25. Spectator: Trendistic
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26. Joiner: … FAIL
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27. Joiner: Keeping a Placeholder
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28. Creator: Service @ComcastCares
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29. Creator: Service @ComcastCares
• Successful because they actually solve problems!
• Skilled customer-service reps, not PR/Marketing
• Attempt to get resolution on Twitter, in public
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30. Creator: Behind the Scenes with USTREAM
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31. Creator: Suggestion Box @WholeFoods
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32. Creator: Viral News @NYTimes
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33. Creator: Collaboration @FIOS
Verizon Twitter Widget
(FIOS cable service)
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34. Creator: Travel Tips @JetBlue
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35. Creator: Crowd-sourcing @IdeasCulture
• Submit challenge by 4 PM, by 6 PM challenge sent to
200 ‘Ideas Agents’ in 8 countries
• Example: “Find a way to increase attendance at
professional development conferences”
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36. Creator: Sales @woot
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37. Creator: Niche Sales @wootwine
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38. Creator: Contest @yahoofinance
Yahoo! Finance created Twitter-based contest on 9/10:
• Start by following @yahoofinance on Twitter
• Tweet your answer to weekly trivia question in format below.
First person to answer correctly wins.
• To Tweet your answer, copy and paste the following text:
#yfinancetrivia [answer] @yahoofinance
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39. Creator: School-to-parent @SCSSchoolMeals
• Somerset County Services (UK)
publishes its school menu each day
via Twitter; geared towards helping
address child obesity
• Parents can follow
@SCSSchoolmeals to receive a
tweet each morning showing what’s on
the school menu. Any parent,
grandparent or care-giver can follow,
whether their child currently eats
school meals or not.
• Used to update parents on special
theme days, how to apply for free
school meals, etc.
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40. Creator: Coupon Broker @CouponTweet
Search for coupons
and discounts
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41. Creator: Sales @DellOutlet
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42. Creator: Diffusion - Dell AdoptAMini.com
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43. Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds
• Tech conferences in Europe, many attendees were wearing
pendants called Pokens; which replace business cards
• Pokens have two parts: one is a plastic shell which you
choose to reflect your identity
• The other is the hand part, which has a USB connector; plug
your Poken into a PC and you can enter your social network
IDs into it (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Now if you meet someone, you can “high four” them, and your
Pokens can exchange info once they come in close proximity
to one another -- no more scribbling email addresses, etc.
• Best Real World Gadget (TechCrunch UK)
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44. Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds
If Pokens catch on here,
consider implications
for CPG, retailers,
misc. marketers…
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45. Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds
• Visit Tweet My Bumper, site will print, ship bumper sticker
• "Follow me in traffic. Follow me on Twitter“
• Standard bumper sticker priced at $5 (includes promotional
TweetMyBumper URL); $6 (without promo URL)
• Any business can borrow this concept!
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46. Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds
If you are interested in this
brand, ‘high four’ your Poken to
exchange info; receive product
offers, promo codes, samples…
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47. Recommendations
• Evaluate: where are you
on the ladder? Where do
you want to go?
• Plan: how do you intend
to move up? Who will be
the owner? Are there
legal, compliance issues?
• Implement: make your
plan real, find out what
fails and what works, test
and iterate…
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48. Questions?
Answers not guaranteed for completeness, accuracy or timeliness
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