Twitter: The power of the underdog
There was a time, around the beginning of the last decade, when nailing the perfect Twitter Strategy was a delicate art form. Twitter was the perfect place for brands to communicate regularly with their audiences and give large businesses a human voice. The post frequency rules of Facebook and Instagram did not apply and if done correctly, the results could have a huge impact on your marketing ROI.
With brands like @Betfairpoker and @VirginTrains leading the way with off-the-cuff hilarious tweets, content was often posted that wasn’t about a given sector, but just pure, out and out entertainment - Virgin Trains continued to lead this space right up until the train line was taken over by Avanti West Coast. Results were tens of thousands of followers and scores of dedicated fans. Twitter provided an opportunity for brands to provide an ongoing narrative around their business and industry.
Betfair Poker and Virgin Trains were masters of the big brand having a human voice
But somewhere along the way the fun stopped and Twitter seemed warped in a blanket of political controversy, fake news and now has to contend with heavy competition from the likes of TikTok, dominating a rapidly growing GenZ audience.
Meet Tim of Minnesota’s Cowboy Museum
However, a couple of weeks ago, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Tim, Head of Security of Minnesota's Cowboy Museum was given control of the museum’s Twitter account and unleashed a social-media force of nature. The museum could not possibly have expected results this good—and frankly, what they’ve done probably should NOT have worked—but it does work because it’s just so genuine.
Unsurprisingly, the museum has had to close due to the Coronavirus pandemic. So they put their head of security - Tim (pictured here), in charge of social media for the time being. Let’s think about that for a second.
Tim isn’t qualified in the traditional way; to be honest, the head of physical security for a cowboy museum is probably the last person you’d want running your social media accounts — but he is committed with a good attitude, and somehow that completely reverses the effect of his technical illiteracies. And the results speak for themselves.
Source: SocialBakers Graph for illustrative purposes only. Values are correct as of 29th April 2020
Why Twitter?
Who knows… maybe Tim’s appointment wasn’t a desperate move, but a perfectly planned and executed marketing tactic that paid off brilliantly. It just goes to show that amidst the fake news (something Twitter is combatting heavily), fake accounts (regularly purged by Twitter) and political discourse, the magic of 280 characters and #hashtags is still alive.
So much so, we’ve put together five reasons Twitter is still very much current despite the popular opinion that it’s “so 2012”... Here’s why:
1. Customer Service - Twitter is fast, concise and if done correctly can be very personable - it is also, for the most part, very public so people who would have ordinarily complained about a service or product find their answers quickly without starting that irate email.
2. Post frequency - The platform allows you to post a lot more than Facebook and Instagram. OK, it’s not physically impossible to post more than twice a day on these channels but as an agency we certainly wouldn’t recommend it. Twitter on the other hand allows a rolling narrative to take place, especially when you encourage conversation, and re-tweet and respond to user’s replies. Brands have been known to tweet up to 15-20 times a day without damaging their impression numbers - just as long as what they’re saying is worth reading.
3. Less focused on media spend - perfect if budgets are tight and you still have a lot to say. It’s no secret that Instagram and Facebook require a fair amount of media spend if you have any hope at reaching your audience. However Twitter is less dependent on it. Yes, it will still help, but our experience tells us that if you have a skilled social media team or agency writing engaging content, tweets can spread quickly and effectively organically.
4. People are still at the party - Twitter has 145 million daily active users. The numbers speak for themselves. There is still a huge audience out there waiting for the right content to come their way.
5. Video is huge - like with most channels, video has very much found its place on Twitter. So if your video content strategy is on point, Twitter could be the place to showcase it. People watch 2 billion videos on Twitter per day, that’s 66% year-over-year growth in 2019 and tweets with video get 10X the engagement… Need we say more?
Have you overlooked Twitter in your social media strategy? Maybe it’s worth reconsidering? Give us a call to talk to one of our strategists and see if we can make your brand stand out in the world of 280 characters.