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By Gordon Chu | July 07, 2009
Social Media’s “Tweet”-ssentials
Huddling around the TV set with my family, television has historically marked the iconic moments of my life – the fall of the Berlin Wall, death of Princess Diana, and, of course, who could forget the OJ Simpson’s white Bronco barreling down the Los Angeles freeways. News used to be a lot simpler back then.
Fast-forward several years to 1999 and the advances of technology bring us to a new era of information – the dawn of the Internet. September 11, 1999 – all of us can remember exactly where we were, what we were doing, and how we felt. I was en route to the 37th floor of a San Francisco skyscraper when I got that one email on my Skytel pager (I miss that thing) – we (the US) were being attacked.
Fast-forward again to the present and here we are – the Internet has advanced and who can argue that we now live in a pure and unbridled era of instant information, namely the dawn of Twitter. June 25, 2009 – for all the Michael Jackson fans out there (including myself), who can forget when that breaking news came out about his untimely death. I will say that I first found out of MJ’s heart attack through tweets sitting in my METAN office. Curious as I am, I jump on Twitter search and within MINUTES, news breaks out of his unconfirmed death (thanks to TMZ) and over 50,000 new tweets (in a span of 5 minutes) were pouring into every single person’s email, cell phone, and news source about Michael Jackson.
Tragedy aside, imagine that – Twitter, a form of micro-blogging, is the new way we consume information. Whether the business model is commercially viable for a business (or for Twitter itself for that matter), tweets is the new trend of instant access and communication.
Beyond information, let’s take a look at the utilizing Twitter as a marketing tool for any brand. Afterall, the ability to mobilize and get to your core audience in such a real-time manner is immeasurable. Here are five reasons why Twitter should be used in your marketing campaigns:
Drives Awareness. How thought-provoking you might think. I’ll be frank, Twitter is not going to re-invent the wheel… but it is a medium that can easily be implemented and extend your reach to a nice core group of your audience. Plus, it’s pretty inexpensive. And, during these times, wouldn’t you want a cheaper alternative for your media campaigns?
Makes you an Expert. Let me caveat this one first – it takes time. Imagine you’re courting someone new. You’re not going to down on bended knee within the first date – no, because in all relationships (including a Twitter one), you need to build trust. So, offer up advice. Offer up your two cents. This builds credibility and in any sales seminar 101, that’s the golden rule.
Timely information to your consumers. The whole beauty of Twitter is that anyone can get this information in real-time. Having a sale that you want to promote right then and there? Tweet. Have a contest you need more responses for? Tweet. Latest news update on Miley Cyrus? Well – you should keep that one to yourself.
Consumer Interactivity. This idea piggy-backs off of the ability to get real-time information to AND from your consumers. Where else can you get feedback and response to a campaign you’ve just sent outside of Twitter? Not only is it quantitative (number of tweets), but it’s qualitative as well. If you want responses and want to know how the consumer feels, take a yonder on Twitter search – it’s a nice dose of marketing reality.
Keeps you relevant. In this post-modern age of Internet and mobile, technology evolves faster than the blink of an eye. Twitter is no exception and it’s something you need to do in order to keep relevant. If this is not your schtick – let me suggest that you MAKE it your schtick. Relevance is the name of the game if you want to keep your customers at-hand.
Now that we’ve talked about Twitter – let’s shift gears to Twitter in China. Even in China, micro-blogging isn’t a novel idea. In fact, China has been VERY quick to embrace the Twitter movement and other similar companies have already replicated the same idea including Taotao.com, Fanfou.com, Jiwai.de, and newcomer Digu.com. Currently, Taotao rules the Chinese micro-blog markets by a considerable amount (they partnered with Tencent QQ and leveraged their already existing 900M registered user base).
I’ve talked about the viability of Twitter in China to several peers and many point out the role of government and censorship on the potential future of micro-bloggin. We’ve all read about reports in China how the government has shut down Twitter (or temporarily at least) from the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square on June 4th to more recently with the uprising of riots in western China. But let me say these incidences are more the exception than they are the majority. Yes, we do need to be careful of what we say – and yes, there will be monitoring of information. We should be doing that regardless, but if you keep it simple, don’t ruffle any feathers, Twitter can be one of your best friends. [ Off proverbial soap box ]
Let’s take a step back and objectively think about Twitter in China. The more I dig into this, the more I think that Twitter is EXACTLY what the China market needs. It’s as if Twitter was created and tailor-made for a country like China. If Twitter works commercially anywhere in the world – my money is in China. Four reasons why:
Fragmented, fragmented, fragmented. Some of my peers at METAN tell me I sound like a broken record. Every newsletter I write, I talk about how fragmented the China market is. Well, I will say it again. And I will say it next time as well. China is big and China is fragmented. The Internet has done WONDERS in unifying the country and youths alike and the evolution of Twitter will only support what the Internet has already done.
Consumer Driven Internet. It’s no mystery that Chinese consumers flock to the Internet more than any other media channels available. The Internet is robust, it bridges across all of China, and information is the currency that these consumers use to define themselves in the world wide web. What does this all mean for Twitter? If good and fast information is what drives consumers – Twitter is going to be here for a very long time.
Marketing in China is expensive. China’s sheer geographic size just makes it a logistical nightmare for marketers to effectively and efficiently build a strong target market group. The beauty of Twitter is that the consumers CHOOSE to follow you. Build enough of trustworthy followers and now you have a pure target market who wants your information.
Relationship-based China. If you haven’t worked in China before, one word you should tattoo into your arm: relationships. Everything is done through relationships from conducting business to finding yourself a soul-mate, you need to know and honor the relationships that you foster. Online is no exception and even if you were to build a pseudo-relationship with your consumers, that’s one step further to win their sale.
Now that we’ve talked through the ABC’s of Twitter in China, we always have to remind ourselves exactly how to Twitter in China. In my opinion, it’s half science / half art and takes a little finesse to get it just right.
For starters, we need to embrace technology and not be scared of the what-if’s and how-to’s. Embrace the ability to reach a targeted market that WANTS to “follow” you.
Secondly, be patient. This is still new to China, so take it easy in the beginning. You don’t become best friends right away – you need to take it slow and steady. Build their trust, they will follow.
Lastly, social media of all kinds (including Twitter) is about habit. I think of it like working out – some of you will love it and others will do it because they need to. For those who love it, kudos to you. For those who do not, your discipline will pay off. It’s marketing. It’s advertising. It’s business… in 140 characters or less.
Gordon Chu is the VP of Business Development at METAN Development Group. For comments/questions, email gchu@metanmedia.com.
