Twitter Fails to Click with Brand Marketers

Twitter, which feels like it's been around for eons but is only four years old, boasts more than 100 million registered users and 65 million tweets daily. Read on to find out why, despite its growth and all the buzz, it's not yet clicking with brand marketers.

A new white paper from 360i, “Twitter & the Consumer-Marketer Dynamic,” has some salient findings for marketers and brands.

Among the key take-aways:
• “Twitter is primarily for people, not corporations: 90% of tweets come from consumers; 12% of consumer tweets mention a brand; top brands mentioned are Apple products/brands, Google and (not surprisingly) Twitter itself.
• Twitter makes the private space public: 94% of tweets are personal (vs. professional/self-promotional); 92% of users keep their tweets public; 85% of tweets reflect original content (non-RTs, or retweets).
• Companies tend to talk at people, not with them: 43% of consumer tweets are conversational (@replies to other users); 12% of all marketer tweets demonstrate active dialogue with consumers, signifying that most of them aren’t tapping Twitter’s full potential; 1% of consumer tweets that mention a brand are part of a conversation with that brand.”

The six month study concludes that there’s a vast, unmined opportunity for marketers with Twitter. For most Twitter users, brands are not top of mind. Celebrity tweets are few and far between accounting for fewer than 1% even though a celebrity tweet has a reach 1,000 times greater than the average consumer.

"Marketers use Twitter to broadcast, while consumers use it to converse," comments Sarah Hofstetter, SVP emerging media and brand strategy at 360i.

According to Hofstetter, many clients ask for a Twitter social media strategy without really understanding if their audience even uses the networking platform. “We have to back them out and say, 'Oh, you want a social marketing strategy that helps you develop a closer relationship with consumers.'"

Clearly, there's a disconnect between brands and Twitter. One issue, as MediaPost notes: brand marketers still lack the skills and the knowledge to effectively tap Twitter to have a meaningful conversation with consumers.

The site remains an important tool for listening to consumers and marketers are becoming more familiar with their needs, but they risk damaging a brand if they choose to turn the tool into a megaphone rather than a conversation.

The report comes at a time when Twitter is expanding its resources that could help brands better engage the Twitterati: it's testing inline photos and videos as an opportunity for brands and individuals alike to transcend the platform's 140-character limitation, and already offers promoted trends and tweets to advertisers.

Another issue, Hofstetter says, has been that "the ad model presents an opportunity to augment already popular conversations."

Tell us: Think the key to making Twitter work for brands is as simple as making branded tweets more conversational and finding a celebrity? What's working for your brand on that platform? Drop us a note or post a comment, as we're looking for best Twitter practices to highlight on brandchannel. Thanks!