Twitter Effectiveness
In a previous blog posting I discussed your effectiveness with Twitter as measured by your Retweet Rank. A Retweet Rank is a representation of the number of times a user has been retweeted by others. I argued that this rank can be used to determine how much self promoting you can get away with.
Beyond Measurement
This time I talk about how Twitter may be used to emulate, in my opinion, the most successful marketing tactic in the history of marketing. If you haven’t guessed it already I’m talking about search marketing. Most people are familiar with search marketing. You go to Google, or some other engine, and search for what you want. The results are displayed in either the organic (free) or sponsored (paid) listing results.
Search Marketing
I argue that search marketing is the most successful tactic because, from the marketer’s perspective, you can market directly to the people who are specifically looking for your product or service. And you can tailor your offers and call to action specifically to the prospect. What still amazes me is you can “automate” the process to track your success (conversions) and adjust your activity to improve results even more. Yes, I think this is the greatest invention since slice bread…but wait. The market is getting saturated. Click costs are going up. Too bad there isn’t another tool that could work beside it. Well maybe there is. Twitter!
Twitter has Context and is Free
Twitter has two attributes that could help accelerate the growth of advertising in the mobile market. Like Google, Tweeter has context and is a free service. With Twitter you can determine the hot topics (keywords). Additionally, since people tell Twitter about themselves through their account or through their tweets, Twitter can layer on demographic and behavioral targeting.
Twiter as a Search Tool
This is where it gets similar to Google AdWords. Advertisers could buy keywords or phrases that are tweeted. This could be based upon geographic location and a Twitter profile of previous Tweets. If you want to get real fancy, assuming that the GPS location is turned on, a retailer, say, in a mall could send offers to the mobile device of people walking in front of their store, or generally in the mall.
Beyond Just Search
I’m excited, but is it just me? There is nothing better for a retailer than the ability to know that John is looking for a new WII game and getting him an offer before he begins to shop. How about Sue with a broken windshield that would appreciate the convenience of getting a fair price and mobile service without having to ask.
Is it just me? I don’t think so.
Contact steve.thompson@siteedgeagency.com .
Technorati Tags: Twitter, Social Media, Online Marketing