An outline guide to using Twitter as an integral part of your organisation's marketing and and commnications strategy.

1. A three legged horse
in a dog show
How to get your organisation started on Twitter
Follow us @daemondigital Edition 1.0 / April 2009

2. Introduction About Twitter
Twitter has hit the headlines and become Founded in California in 2006, Twitter is a micro blogging
service which encourages users to post regular status
the social media phenomena of the updates and interesting facts or links using 140 characters
moment. From Barack Obama to Britney or less. Micro blogging is in reality part blog and part social
network and, be warned, very addictive.
Spears, people are capitalising on its ability
Twitter has leapt to prominence over the past 12 months
to publish messages to the masses in 140 as high profile individuals and organisations have adopted
characters or less. It only takes seconds it in their marketing and communications strategies.
President Obama’s innovative use of social media
to write and seconds to read. But what during the general election has been well documented
relevance does this new platform have http://tinyurl.com/d8flwl
for business and how are organisations As at March 2009, the top 10 most followed
Twitter accounts, many of which started less than
cashing in on the opportunities? a year ago, were:
Among many organisations Twitter seems to have an Followers Joined
unjustified reputation as a service for socially inept
1 @cnnbrk 695,940 27 months ago
teenagers. Yet properly used and effectively targeted,
Twitter can add significant value. This paper looks at 2 @britneyspears 599,758 6 months ago
the benefits for business and how Twitter, and indeed
3 @barakobama 571,885 25 months ago
other micro blogging services, can be used to better
communicate and engage with stakeholders. It shows 4 @aplusk 561,580
how businesses can get started in this space, what and
5 @twitter 560,270 26 months ago
how to communicate, as well as providing tips to help
you get your messages seen by the right audiences and 6 @jimmyfallon 481,388 8 months ago
start building a following.
7 @therealshaq 449,295 4 months ago
And the title of the document? It was from the former,
8 @nytimes 438,198 25 months ago
almost US Vice President Sarah Palin tweeted on
10 November 2008
9 @lancearmstrong 429,352 6 months ago
http://twitter.com/sarahpalin 10 @theellenshow 426,085
This document is meant as an introductory guide only to an
ever changing medium and will be updated on a regular basis.
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Why should my organisation get involved?
“I know, it’s totally silly and A UK based digital agency* has defined a useful list
of ways through which Twitter can add value to an
shallow, but that’s precisely organisation, which we have reordered, adapted
and explained a little differently:
why Twitter is on its way
to becoming the next
1. Use Twitter to listen
killer app.”
2. Use Twitter to ask questions
This quote is drawn from an article by Anita Hamilton
published in TIME Magazine, 27 March 2008. It shows
how far Twitter has come in a very short period of time.
3. Use Twitter to extend
It was Twitpic that broke the news story of the plane
your contacts
crashing into the Hudson river to the world. A passenger
on a ferry heading to help took a photo on his phone
4. Use Twitter to invigorate
and posted it to Twitpic 15 minutes before any major
news outlet broke the story. http://twitpic.com/135xa
your existing contacts
If a Twitter application can do this, what can it do for
your organisation, and more importantly, what might the
5. Use Twitter to sell your IP
cost of not getting involved be?
Many organisations will take the approach that they will
6. Use Twitter to sell your products
wait and see how micro blogging develops before they
or services
get involved. These same organisations and individuals
within them, said the same about social networking (in
fact they may still be) and probably the web before that.
7. Use Twitter to help your
The simple fact is that the speed of both adoption and
customers do all of the above
change in this space is such that most organisations
cannot afford to risk not getting involved.
Moreover, it is acceptable to engage with this space
now and make a few mistakes as you learn your way
around, largely because most people are also learning
their way around Twitter. This will not be the case in
a year from now when people will not be so forgiving.
And finally, and most directly, the chances are
that engaging with Twitter is almost certain to add
value to your organisation as a whole, even if that
engagement does nothing more than bring your
messages to a new audience.
* www.velocitypartners.co.uk
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4. Getting started
Use the right tools
The basics
There are numerous applications and tools being
Like many social media applications, Twitter takes a while
developed on a daily basis to help you and your
to get used to. But it can be significantly enhanced by
organisation gain greater benefit from Twitter.
using some of the myriad tools and applications being
Find your favourites and use them.
built to improve the service.
TweetLater for example, allows your organisation to
Twitter works by following the posts of people you are
add posts en masse and then spread out there posting
interested in hearing from. Other Twitter users will follow
through Twitter to add to your productivity and reduce
you for exactly the same reason. In simple terms then,
the time spent online. Alternatively, Tweetdeck allows
if you have something interesting to say more people will
a user to monitor their Twitter feeds from their desktop
be interested in hearing and sharing it. Your number of
and sort numerous feeds into a system which simplifies
followers will increase, as will the size of the audience for
the information received.
your message.
To determine what may or may not be useful to your
Many people use an application which allows them to
organisation review the available tools through a database
automatically follow users who follow them. This is often
application like www.twitdom.com which lists all known
combined with search tools to follow people who post
available applications and tools in the current Twitter
tweets which include keywords they are keen to track.
ecosystem.
In order to help people find your Tweets, you need to
extend your reach. Tagging your tweets for example makes
Communicating in 140 characters or less
them easier to find in search results and will feed them
directly into other channels. Adding # as a prefix to any Saying what you want to in just 140 characters is not
word in your post creates a keyword, which people can always as easy as it sounds, particularly if you are trying
then search by. For example, #twitter or #australia. to sell a specific message.
For more information on using hash tags see
That last sentence for example was exactly 140 characters
http://tinyurl.com/5tpocb
long and didn’t say much.
In addition to posting information about or on behalf of your
If your organisation spends too long constructing the
organisation, don’t be shy in retweeting other user’s tweets
perfect 140 character post, then you’re not approaching
if you find them interesting. The logic being if they are of
the medium correctly. Keep it real, make it timely and
interest to you, they are likely to be to others as well. Add
honest and you’re more likely to be in the right area. That
RT to the front of the tweet before you post it and credit the
said, a couple of simple tips can help make things easier:
original source – that’s just polite after all.
Try using TinyURL (www.tinyurl.com) a simple and free
To find people, or organisations, that your organisation
service which reduces long URL links to smaller lengths.
might be interested in following, try the search functionality
It allows you to post links to your organisations products,
within Twitter itself. Searching with @ in front of a word will
services or IP without using too many of your 140
search for a specific Twitter account. ‘space ?’ will look for
characters. For example, using TinyURL, the link:
questions. Answering other users questions and monitoring
@replies (or other users replies to your posts) is a great way http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/web/twitter-
of engaging in dialogue and enhancing the value of your wins-wine-deals/2009/03/21/1237526391007.html
posts.
Becomes simply: http://tinyurl.com/ckyoyc
Alternatively, use Google’s advanced search and limit the
By using Tweetburner, you can shorten URLs creating
domain search to twitter.com.
Twurls, for example, http://twurl.nl/s8s0z1. Then use the
Finally, to make your Tweets easier to find, register your Tweetburner application to review usage and click through
organisation with communities and directories for example rates from the URLs you post, see www.tweetburner.com
@wefollow and specifically for business executive’s A great way to measure the reach of your posts whilst
@exectweets getting shorter URLs into your Tweets.
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Your organisation’s brand voice
Firstly, do not consider micro blogging as separate from Finally, if you’re organisation is going to engage with Twitter,
any other marketing communications activity. In fact, it accept that you will not be able to control the conversation,
has the potential to cement diverse channels rather than just participate. On a Boston Consulting Group matrix
segment them. with an axis from controlled to uncontrolled bisected by
monologue to dialogue, then Twitter, and indeed all micro
Approach micro blogging as you would any other channel
blogging would appear as pictured:
and determine objectives, tactics and measurement
criteria. Additionally don’t assume that one Twitter account
Monitor Measure
is enough, your strategy might require your organisation
having multiple accounts. Consider for example, Dell’s 34 Controlled
Twitter accounts as diverse as @delloutlet which posts
Twitter only discount offers to @dellshares, the corporate’s
investor channel:
message activation
Proof activation
Monologue Dialogue
Uncontrolled
On the other hand, controlling how your organisation’s
corporate identity is represented on Twitter is very easy
to achieve. The background to every Twitter account is
entirely customisable and can be very easily uploaded as
Equally, you should follow in Dell’s footsteps and avoid only
an image file. Some notable examples of interpreting an
talking about your products and services. Daemon Digital
organisation’s corporate identity on Twitter include:
recommends a concerted Defensive and Offensive strategy
when using social media. Your organisation’s Twitter • http://twitter.com/QFTravelInsider
account is a microcosm of this approach. • http://twitter.com/flyingdog
• http://twitter.com/earthhour
Offensive strategies focus on discussing core brand or
• http://twitter.com/waynesutton
product/service messages while defensive strategies
• http://twitter.com/ChicagoDesign
concern the communication or discussion of proof points
• http://twitter.com/SouthwestAir
around your key brand substantiators.
• http://twitter.com/DunkinDonuts
It is important to establish your brand in social media
using defensive strategies before you start pushing sales
messages offensively. You can find out more about this at
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6. Monitoring and measurement
Enterprise solutions
How you measure and monitor the impact of social
media and/or Twitter to your business will depend upon Many organisations are conservative in nature and not
your objectives. There are a number of techniques you keen to expose their messages to an uncontrolled audience
can use and indeed applications are being developed with the ability to reply. Jumping straight into using Twitter
to help you achieve that measurement. Some are simpler can be a step too far for many.
than others to use, for a dip test for example, check out
As an alternative route to engaging your organisation
http://twitter.com/grader which is a great first step. Some
with micro blogging, enterprise solutions may help. They
other metrics or attributes for you to consider include:
limit the access to a micro blogging account by your
organisations email domain. In effect, these enterprise
solutions, which are invite only, require a log in email
• The conversation index which is a ratio between posts domain to match that of the administrator, effectively
and comments, plus trackbacks creating a virtual private micro blog.
• Reach, which is more concerned with influence Examples of this approach to micro blogging include
than numbers Yammer (www.yammer.com) or Flokio (www.flokio.com)
both of which have both enterprise and SaaS applications.
• Relevance or how you sift through social media to
position your organisation Software as a Service (SaaS) applications for micro
blogging can be extremely useful and empowering for
• Favourability or the value of negative
organisations that want to embrace micro blogging but
or positive content
require the added security of keeping the information inside
• Integration, effectively the simplest of all as it revolves the organisations firewall or WAN.
around integrating your social and traditional media
In itself, the enterprise solution is also an extremely
measurement tools
powerful internal communications tool as it relies on short,
sharp and timely updates, not long winded company
The important point is that regardless of
emails or newsletters which more often than not do not get
how you measure your results make sure read. The micro blog for example can be read and digested
that you do measure them. in a matter of seconds, making it much more likely to reach
a busy workforce.
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How to integrate Twitter into
your marketing strategy
The most effective way of integrating your social media Without an effective strategy for integrating its use into your
strategy into your marketing strategy is to define your marketing plan, Twitter is just an application. Determine
marketing objectives and then determine which of them your communications strategy based on your business
social media can help achieve. Social media should not objectives taking into account both offensive and defensive
stand alone, nor is “we have a Facebook site” communications.
a social media strategy.
Establish your brand in social media through defensive
Twitter as a social media application follows the same rules. communication and provide the proof of what your brand
Define what it can do for your organisation, set objectives, stands for and how it behaves. Only then should you
plan accordingly and then deploy. engage in offensive communication and start to push key
sales messages.
For most organisations, social media alone is unlikely to
reach their business or marketing objectives, however, it is
a powerful accelerant for most organisations if integrated
Finally, consider Twitter in the context of our seven point
effectively and managed efficiently.
plan for managing your organisation’s reputation in digital
It is also critical to ensure that your organisation media, http://tinyurl.com/djj97b namely:
approaches Twitter, and the wider use of social media,
1. Find out where you stand;
from a marketing/communications standpoint and not
as a technology solution. 2. Know your audience;
With all social media it is the content of the 3. Trust your people;
communications, the ability to start and engage
4. Get involved and stay engaged;
in conversations that is important. Pretty pictures
and a well designed platform isn’t sufficient for people 5. Keep it real;
to engage.
6. Get to the point; and
7. Measure what you are achieving.
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8. For more information on developing
and implementing social media strategies
for your business visit:
www.daemondigital.com
or follow us @daemondigital