1 entire contents © 2008 forrester research, inc. all rights reserved


How Brands Can Succeed With TwitterJeremiah OwyangSenior Analyst

Forrester Research


Theme

Twitter doesn’t matter


Theme

What matters is the web is real time, mobile, and

global


Agenda

• An Industry Perspective

• Why Microblogging Matters

• Five Business Opportunities

• Recommendations for Brands

• The Future of Twitter

• Q&A


Three-Quarters Of US Online Adults Now Use Social Technologies


Expect adoption to increase during recession

• Technologies are free –or cheap

• Those that are between jobs have more time to connect and communicate.

• Social media used as an escape –as folks can connect with others

• Many are creating personal brands and connecting with others.

• Opportunities to self-educate and learn new skills through social network, Q&A, blogs.


We polled a broad range of companies


Marketers Shift Budget To Social Media Marketing


Marketers To Increase Social Media Marketing Spending — Even During A Downturn


Budgets For Social Media Marketing Remain Minuscule


Social Media Budgets Are Not Yet Dedicated And Mostly Experimental


Budgets shift from corporate marketing and advertising


Agenda


• Why Microblogging




• Q&A


What is Twitter?

• A Microblog

• A Social Network

• A CMS system

• A CRM system

• A Support Tool

• A Communication Tool

• A Protocol

• Overhyped


Key moments in Twitter history

• SXSW 2007

• Slayed the Fail Whale…almost

• Let the Firehose open up for 3rd party development

• Partnered with SalesForce, SAP

• Experimented with monetization: Ads, and ExecTweet.com


Why does Twitter matter to brands?

• It’s growing, very quickly.

• It has mainstream media attention –yet not mainstream adoption.

• Brands don’t want to be left behind.


Yet a framework is needed

• Brands must approach Twitter as they would any business situation –have an objective


Agenda






• Q&A


Brands should align it with the 5 the objectives

• Listening

• Talking

• Energizing

• Supporting

• Embracing


Tweet #1

Listening: Brands can benefit by understanding their customers in near-real time and gain instant feedback #140tc


Listen to their customers

• Use search.twitter.com to find out what people are saying about your company and your brands.

• Case Study:

» Communispace and Best Buy tracked Twitter conversations of the members of a private community around the 2008 holidays to better understand consumers' shopping behaviors.

» Best Buy used the resulting insight for messaging strategy and timing of ad buys.


Listening Best Practices

• Monitor using search tools, RSS

• Get serious with listening platforms

• Don’t just listen to your brand and products, understand what’s being said about competitors

• Context is difficult –track the conversations

• Listening platforms, such as Andiamo, Infegy, and, Radian6 include tweets in their monitoring services.


Tweet #2

Talking: Brands can engage in dialogs with customers and prospects, sharing and learning information #140tc


Talk directly to customers

• Like you would in real life, use these tools to talk directly to your customers

• Just remember that Twitter users choose which brands they follow, so give them information they care about.

• Example:

» JetBlue and Southwest Airlines use Twitter to advertise flight deals and announce company news

» Rubbermaid and Dunkin' Donuts use Twitter search to see who is talking about their products and then engage directly with those consumers.


Case Study: Rubbermaid provides helpful information


Talking best practices

• Create multiple accounts –based on different product lines or topics

» Share useful information

» Reply to conversations

» Acknowledge others.

• Set expectations of the content you’re going to communicate.

» News

» Support

» Dialog

» Innovation

» Product passion


Tweet #3

Energizing: Never before have we seen such rapid word-of-mouth. Good –and bad– information spreads about brands in seconds #140tc


Energize your brands’ advocates

• You can easily find your brand's advocates among Twitter users by monitoring who mentions your brand name in their tweets.

• For example, online shoe retailer Zappos lists all the tweets that mention its name on a constantly updated page on its site

• This page shows other visitors that Twitter users are generally pleased with the company's service, energizing additional sales.


Case Study: Dell

• Nothing speaks louder than revenues

• Dell generated over one million in revenues from it’s Dell Outlets


Energizing Best Practices

• Word of mouth is the holy grail of marketing.

• Customers trust their peers beyond all others

• Provide information that is easily retweetable, keep it short, interesting, yet helpful

» Looking to be eco-friendly with your transportation? Learn what smart customers should look for bit.ly/sxte

• Integrate Twitter sharing tools in your corporate website


Tweet #4

Support: Savvy brands will support their customers in real time, Twitter itself is becoming a CRM system #140tc


Support customers through an interactive channel

• Many brands have support personnel monitoring Twitter and helping customers with problems.

• For example

» Conservative companies like Wells Fargo and Bank Of America now support customers via Twitter


Case Study: Comcast Cares

• Comcast supports it’s customers in near real time, and is growing the team beyond Frank, to aprox 10 folks


Supporting Best Practices

• Support your customers in real time –respond quickly.

• For brands with a physical presence (like a store), be sure to incorporate twitter listening and responding.

• Train your support team to understand and use these tools.

• Remember that not all who talk about your brand are customers –some can and should be ignored.


Tweet #5

Embracing: In the future, communities will define the products and services they want from products –savvy brands will evolve. #140tc


Embrace customers’ brand insight

• With Twitter, you can ask people for immediate feedback on product decisions.

• For example, H&R Block uses Twitter to ask its customers for feedback on its online tax software.

• Adobe directs its followers to complete online surveys, gathering data to improve current and future software products

• As one marketer told us, "Twitter contains the public's true opinion: It's real people with real quotes."


H&R Block asks for Product Feedback


Embracing Best Practices

• Make sure your company is ready for the feedback

• Use these tools to identify the vocal influencers to understand their need

• Teach product teams to understand Twitter.

• Properly prioritize –don’t build just for the squeaky wheel.


Agenda






• Q&A


1) Secure your brand’s identity

• Even if you're not ready to use Twitter, register your brand names on Twitter now.

• This somewhat avoids "brand-jacking" — when a company is misrepresented by an unaffiliated person or group.

• ExxonMobil and Burger King have already suffered this fate, as anonymous, unaffiliated users were tweeting using their names.

• Some brands were able to get the attention of Twitter to help –many others have not.

• Once the Twitter account is established marketers should link to a page on their corporate Web site that ensures the account's authenticity.


2) Determine if your customers are on Twitter

• Don’t fall into the hype

• Analyze how many times your brand is mentioned on Twitter before engaging

Whatever your Twitter strategy, you'll want to listen continuously.

• Use an RSS feed of search.twitter.com to track current brand mentions, or integrate it into listening platforms you're already using.

• Listening will not only tell you if your Twitter outreach is working but will also show what people are saying about your marketing efforts in other channels.

• Consider tools like Nielsen Buzz Metrics, TNS Cymfony, Radian 6.

• Measure based on your objective


3) Attract and maintain customers with real value in your tweets

• Marketers must be prepared to offer more to customers through Twitter than just ads.

• The most successful brands have very few marketing-focused tweets but instead

» Answer customer questions, inform customers of news or company deals,

» Reach out to customers

» Provide followers with insight into the brand.


4) Prepare internal resources

• Even though using Twitter is free, marketing with Twitter requires dedication and planning for the long haul.

• Some companies have a designated employee running the account while some have teams that share the responsibilities.

• To keep messaging consistent, Twitter accounts should either be run by one internal individual or a team following a common set of guidelines.

• Use tools like CoTweet, or Hootsuite


5) Be ready for the long haul

• Brands must prepare for the social and living web by having the right resources in place

• Change your internal culture to accept the living conversation

• Put the right roles in place, such as the social media strategist and the community manager

• Develop the right processes that allow information not to fall into the black hole

• Dedicate an ongoing budget (small at first) that will grow with the program as it evolves.


Agenda






• Q&A


Future moments to watch for

• Premium services for brands

» Identity management

» Reporting and analytics,

» Eventually CRM like features –or through partners



• Advertising systems: affiliate marketing, or display ads

» Watch Federated Media as they explore this beyond exectweets.com



• Partnerships and Alliances

» Courting by Google, Microsoft, or Media companies

» Expect more partnerships with ERP systems beyond Salesforce and SAP

» Mobile handsets will start to be ‘twitter enabled’



• Twitter goes away

» Twitter becomes a data protocol, fades into the woodwork, and is no longer a destination


Theme

Remember, focus on objectives –not specific

technologies.


Agenda






• Q&A


Q&A

@jowyang

1 entire contents © 2008 forrester research, inc. all rights reserved

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advertising slide

minuscule slide

global slide

downturn slide

objective slide

experimental slide

social technologies