twitter - marketing gold mine or future promo dump

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  • 8/2/2019 Twitter - Marketing Gold Mine or Future Promo Dump

    1/2April 27, 2009 mins b2b minonline.com Page 5

    A year ago, witter, the micro-blogging so-

    cial network, was barely a glimmer in thesocial media orbit. Now its a media sensa-tion and the ubiquitous app du jour o theso-called inormed elite. But is it a tool thatmarketers, particularly those in the b2bmedia space, can leverage to bolster sag-ging print ad revenues? And can a commu-nications platorm that hinges on the dis-semination o short messages, or tweets,in 140 characters or ewer be successullymonetized with an ad-based model?

    So ar witter users and proto-evange-lists are still too much in a honeymoon

    phase to make ad orecasts. In act, itspopularity continues to soar. Accordingto Compete, witter is now ranked asthe third-largest social network. And lastmonth, Nielsen Online reported wittersgrowth at 1,382% in February comparedto February 2008, registering a total omore than 7 million unique visitors in theU.S. or the month.

    Still, is it a case o hype trumping re-ality? My ear about witter is i it getsoverwhelmed by ads, itll be like a orum

    getting overwhelmed by salespeople,says Alec Dann, general manager, on-line residential new construction, Han-ley Wood Business Media. People haveto eel that its worthwhile to participate.One o the interesting things about busi-

    ness media is that people engage in it to

    learn about new products. But it has tobe in the right place so people will knowwhere to go when theyre sifing or that.Dann says advertisers products need tobe presented in the right context in wit-ter to keep consumers interested.

    Rachel Globus, editor-in-chie andeducation director or Event Solutionsmagazine, which targets event industryproessionals, echoes Danns sentiment.Although she and her sta primarily usewitter or editorial purposes, such asposting links to drive trac to the maga-

    zines site or providing live eedback dur-ing an event, they are scoping out theplatorms advertising potential. Prior toEvent Solutions recent trade show in LasVegas, there was a discussion about hav-ing witter sponsors. Although that ideadidnt pan out, conerence participantsdid actively tweet with a specically cre-ated hashtag or the show.

    Everybody is saying witter has nobusiness plan, says Globus. But its a littletoo soon to dismiss it. It has so much mo-

    mentum behind it. I would be very sur-prised i someone didnt capitalize on [itsadvertising potential].

    Dann, who works on such HanleyWood brands as Afordable Housing Fi-nance, Builder and Remodeling, says

    witter can be a boon

    or advertisers seekinga brands most engagedreaders. I you can usewitter to identiy whoare your most activereaders, that might bethe way to monetizeit, he explains. You may not be able tomonetize ads [yet] on witter, but youcan monetize it by identiying who areyour core readers.

    Teres also the very real possibility thawitters importance as a new platorm

    will recede into memory as newer digitatoys take center stage. Is witter goingto be a victim o its own success? Tatsa big question regardless o what brandyou are, says Globus, who adds that lasmonth her magazines ad analytics indi-cated that witter was its No. 1 Web sitereerral. I hope and think witter hassomething up its sleeve in terms o unc-tionality.

    Ultimately, it may come down to thetypes o content your audience will ac-

    cept on witter. Its another tool to create a voice in your market, says CrystaOlig, marketing and PR director or EvenSolutions. Its just a matter o testing spe-cic markets in terms o adoption andtolerance. Iris Dorbian

    Eye on Advertising

    Twitter: Marketing Gold Mine or Future Promo Dump?

    Iris Dorbian

    b2b Twitter Account SnapshotWe did a quick witter check on uesday, April 21, to see how many b2b magazine Web sites listed in our Digital Boxscores (see chart onpages 2 and 3) are caught up in the witter craze. Below are the top 10 URLs ranked by number o witter ollowers, out o the 27 b2b URLsthat have witter accounts (that we know o).

    Title/Publisher URL Twitter Followers

    1 Fast Company/Mansueto Ventures fastcompany.com 19,8242 Ad Age/Crain adage.com 15,948

    3 Variety.com/Reed Variety.com 7,308

    4 Inc./Mansueto Ventures inc.com 6,191

    5 Entrepreneur entrepreneur.com 4,403

    6 Library Journal/Reed libraryjournal.com 3,607

    7 Information Week/UBM Technology informationweek.com 2,767

    8 Publishers Weekly/Reed publishersweekly.com 2,714

    9 PC World/IDG pcworld.com 2,369

    10 Hollywood Reporter, The/Nielsen thehollywoodreporter.com 2,158

    http://minonline.com/http://minonline.com/
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