An overview of Twitter for B2C businesses I recently presented for a group of venture capitalists. The deck touches on the following points:
1. Why do consumer businesses care about Twitter?
2. How is Twitter being used - high level?
3. How is Twitter being used for customer service and market - specifics
4. Take Aways
5. Trends to watch
2. Agenda Why Should Businesses Care? Primary Business Uses for Twitter Twitter for Customer Support Twitter for PR & Marketing Takeaways Trends 2
3. Background: What is Twitter? Micro-Blogging – 140 character publishing/broadcasting Communication Platform – 140 character messages Social Network – you chose whose tweets you want to see Real-Time Search – what are people talking about What is Twitter for Businesses? (In Twitter’s Words): “Twitter is a communication platform that helps businesses stay connected to their customers. As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company. As an individual user, you can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that you've had a great—or disappointing—experience with their business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers.” 3
13. Twitter is the ultimate consumer venting platform Easy – don’t need to pick up the phone and sit on hold. Just 140 characters & click publish. Accessible – SMS, Mobile Apps, Web, Desktop Brands get more visibility on customer experiences (good & bad). Doesn’t need to be in the call center to be noticed 13
14. People are talking about Brands… 14 Positive experiences Consideration of purchase Negative experiences
16. Comcast approach to service @Comcastcares @ComcastDoug @ComcastBill @ComcastBonnie @ComcastGeorge @ComcastSherri @ComcastSteve @ComcastDete @ComcastMelissa Several support representatives with Twitter accounts Accounts are unique to the support reps, rather than sharing a single account for the Brand 11 person team in social media At least 1 person available during waking hours (7a-11p) 16
19. Instant change in customer experience 19 5 6 In 13 hours… Comcast went from “sucking big time” to “awesome comcast win”
20. Best Buy & Twelpforce 20 Customers ask questions to the @Twelpforce via Twitter Empowering employees to engage customers on Twitter Employees have personal Twitter accounts + share the twelpforce feed (Agent1056 or JoeShmo12) Promoted with advertising and PR campaigns (eg. hulu ad)
57. Home DepotMost brands are support oriented on Twitter Focus: Listening and monitoring Engaging with customers Improving customer experiences 35
58. Does Twitter work as a customer acquisition channel? 36 Dell would likely say “yes” but the jury is out Twitter CTRs - Directional data: 140 respondents - Email CTRs Source: Mashable (140 respondents)
68. What’s the ROI? Spending is increasing… time, teams, agencies, tools No clear quantifiable $ value for most businesses (yet) Results generated are difficult to measure – no standards How do you value engagement? sentiment? customer happiness? Difficult to compare with traditional media buys… “improved a customer experience” vs. $5 CPM = $X revenue Some organizations are justifying the value without doing an ROI calculation “Adds value for the organization” Improves customer experience Some management teams are focusing on the wrong metrics – “just give me followers!” 40
70. Twitterization of Facebook 42 Facebook Connect API Major redesign Public fan pages Open Stream API “Everyone” option Real-time search Improving Mobile apps Facebook Lite Facebook is becoming more open, more public, and more real-time
72. Commercial Accounts June 2009: Twitter launches verified accounts Enhanced commercial accounts by end of 2009… “We want to build statistics or analytics that let users know — ‘How am I doing on Twitter?’” – Biz Stone 44
73. SPAM Makes the Twitter atmosphere less desirable How will Twitter deal with SPAM? How will businesses deal with SPAM? 45
74. How will organizations scale Twitter (and all social media)? Scaling social media within the organization Teams are growing. Channels presence is growing Multiple stakeholders: Support, PR, Marketing, etc. How does it get managed at Scale within the organization? Looking for ways to leverage social media assets… We’ve established attention, customer relationships in the social media channels, how do we do more with it? E.g. Bing Tweets, Twelpforce, MyCAIdea Cheddr Media plug: We’re helping brands extend & enhance their Twitter presence. Twitterizing websites & marketing campaigns, promotions & apps. 46