Marketers are always on the lookout for new ways to leverage new media, and brand new platforms like Twitter offer fertile ground for creativity.
Two days ago, I was informed that “PattyHewes” was following me on Twitter. I took a quick look, but didn’t recognize the photo of Glen Close.
I did, however, notice the hardass tweets, which included:
@gjkooijman That’s what Tom Shayes discovered. He thought he was ready to run the show after years of being in my shadow. How wrong he was.
Everyone thinks they want to be at the top. But most are just fooling themselves. Few have the stomach for it. Or the balls.
OK, that’s not someone I need to follow.
I forgot about it until the next day, when I was followed by another character who tweeted “If @PattyHewes is following you, you *should* be scared. You should be terrified.”
That got my attention.
A quick visit, then I put the pieces together – both were characters in a TV series called “Damages” and I’d been Twitterbaited (I thought I’d made that up myself until I googled it).
It’s a creative tactic, though a little unsettling to see TV characters crossing the digital divide into the “real” world (the “reality” of Twitter could probably be debated).
The characters are adding new tweets (about one per day), and the list of followed and followers continues to grow.
Will some consider this the Twitter equivalent of spam; a breach of etiquette that will outweigh the advertising aspect?
Keep writing, Tom Chandler
Business blogs aren’t exactly booming — at least according to Ken Magill in a Direct Magazine post, where he cites a Forrester report documenting rapid decline in business blog growth:
Business-to-business blogging took a nosedive this year, mainly because returns on corporate blogs haven’t matched investment, according to a recent report by Forrester Research.
…the number of new corporate blogs has dropped sharply in the last year and a half, according to the report, with 36 companies launching them in 2006, 19 in 2007, and just three in the first quarter of 2008, according to Forrester.
The problem? Corporations repeatedly fall victim to their inability to escape boring, meaningless “corporatespeak.” In fact, Forester’s report speaks to the traits required to successfully engage customers:
Successful corporate blogs “talk openly with an authentic voice,” and are “humble and honest,” two traits that run counter to many corporate egos, said Forrester’s report.
Ouch.
For corporations – who often see blogs as yet another pipeline for corporatespeak (or showcases for preening executives), the ugly truth is this: customers and prospects want useful information or thought leadership, and they’re not getting it. (And yes, they need it coherently written.)
Some organizations have shown excellent returns from blogging (like Patagonia’s Cleanest Line), and the benefits of engaging with customers (binding them to the brand via shared passions and values) are significant.
If I were Absolute Ruler, I’d immediately recruit a good writer, slap a new job title on them (like Corporate Content Writer, though if it were me, I’d negotiate for “Content Czar”), and point them at the Internet.
Imagine the ROI of a good writer – working for a tech company — who was engaging with customers, prospects and media via blog, twitter, social networks, flick’r, YouTube, IM, eNewsletter, etc.
You don’t have to imagine it, of course. Look at what Scoble did for Microsoft.
One of the hidden truths of Web 2.0 is this: the need for copywriters who can communicate in a personable, engaging fashion is far greater than the supply.
Sadly, corporate America hasn’t realized it yet.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
I’ve repeatedly highlighted the marketing benefits of quality content, and believe engagement marketing gigs (blogs, e-newsletters, etc) offer copywriters a shot at excellent long-term (and profitable) projects.
Next time you’re pitching a content project, don’t forget to roll out this excellent example from a Direct Magazine article by Joe Pulizzi:
Being Girl, sponsored by P&G brands Tampax and Always, is a microsite and social community dedicated to young women’s questions about PMS, dating, and other issues. Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff has reported that Being Girl is four times more effective than a similarly priced TV advertising program.
Phrases like "4 times more effective" make marketing directors sit up a little straighter — especially when you’re referring to a project run by a huge packaged goods company.
Need more ammunition?
Keynote tracked respondents’ behavior on three separate automotive microsites. Its research showed the more time visitors spent on a microsite the more likely they were to make a purchase. Even if the prospect initially was thought to be a poor candidate for buying anything, that probability soared after just a few minutes on the site.
There are a couple of important points to note here. First, relevant and valuable online information significantly affects a purchase. Second, a prospect who isn’t necessarily ready to buy can be positively influenced by Web content.
To many writers, "content marketing" means cheaply produced articles, written by the dozen, and yet it doesn’t have to be that way.
Proctor & Gamble — and many others (including niche companies like Pyramyd Air — have demonstrated the excellent returns delivered by high quality content.