Information Services R&D

September 24, 2009

The Business Side of TwitterPresentation to The Circuit

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Summary

• Perception vs. Reality

• Forrester’s Social Technographic Ladder

• Twitter’s Growing Influence

• Spectator: Watch the Brand

• Joiner: Protect the Brand

• Creator: Lead the Pack

• Bridging the Virtual and Physical

• Q&A

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Perception vs. Reality

Perception

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Perception vs. Reality

Reality

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The Basics

• Twitter: free social networking and micro-blog service

• Users send and receive messages known as tweets

• Tweets are text-based posts up to 140 characters long

• Users can choose to send and receive tweets via SMS

• Tweets are only delivered to a user’s followers

• By default, anyone can follow a user, but restricted delivery (locked updates) is permitted

• Through the Twitter API, a wide range of applications can interact with the service

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The Basics: http://twitter.com/WSJ

Microblog

Who WSJ follows

and who are WSJ’s

followers

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The Basics: http://twitter.com/WSJ

Twitter works best with a content management system; if you don’t have a way to rapidly update your website content, Twitter effectiveness is greatly diminished

• Blogs work well

• Shortened URLs

• Rules, regs, disclosures

• Rich content

• Offers, entry forms

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The Basics: URL shortening

Twitter expects that most hyperlinks (URLs) are shortened because of the character limit; examples of third-party URL shortening services include:

• tinyurl.com

• bit.ly

• ow.ly

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The Basics: Plethora of Clients Available

• Twitter: the basic web interface

• HootSuite: web-based, multi-account management

• Twhirl: thick-client (AIR), multi-account management

• TweetDeck: thick-client (AIR)

• TwitterFeed: feed RSS (blog posts) into Twitter

• TweetFunnel: team tweeting for business users

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The Basics: Commands (web, phone, etc.)

• F wsj – become a follower

• @wsj nice work on the Citi article! – public message

• D wsj it’s a secret! – direct, private message

• whois wsj – basic info

• get wsj – retrieve latest update

• stats – list my stats (# of followers, etc.)

• invite 513-555-1234 – ask cellphone user to join/follow

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The Basics: Unofficial Conventions

• RT wsj dow up 90 today – re-tweet (relay) a message

• RT wsj #djia up 90 today – hash tag (# prefix)

Hash tags are used to categorize tweets, examples are:

– #music

– #quote

– #jobs

– #phone

– #news

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Forrester: Social Technographics Ladder

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Forrester: Social Technographics Ladder

More than 80% of online U.S. adults participate in one or more social networks

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Twitter’s Growing Influence

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Twitter’s Growing Influence

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Usage by Demographic (55+)

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Usage by Demographic (45-54)

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Usage by Demographic (35-44)

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Usage by Demographic (25-34)

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Usage by Demographic (18-24)

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Spectator: Watch the Brand

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Spectator: Search

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Spectator: Twendz

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Spectator: Monitter

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Spectator: Trendistic

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Joiner: … FAILFAILFAILFAIL

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Joiner: Keeping a Placeholder

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Creator: Service @ComcastCares

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Creator: Service @ComcastCares

• Successful because they actually solve problems!

• Skilled customer-service reps, not PR/Marketing

• Attempt to get resolution on Twitter, in public

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Creator: Behind the Scenes with USTREAM

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Creator: Suggestion Box @WholeFoods

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Creator: Viral News @NYTimes

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Creator: Collaboration @FIOS

Verizon Twitter Widget (FIOS cable service)

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Creator: Travel Tips @JetBlue

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Creator: Crowd-sourcing @IdeasCulture

• Submit challenge by 4 PM, by 6 PM challenge sent to 200 ‘Ideas Agents’ in 8 countries

• Example: “Find a way to increase attendance at professional development conferences”

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Creator: Sales @woot

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Creator: Niche Sales @wootwine

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Creator: Contest @yahoofinance

Yahoo! Finance created Twitter-based contest on 9/10:

• Start by following @yahoofinance on Twitter

• Tweet your answer to weekly trivia question in format below. First person to answer correctly wins.

• To Tweet your answer, copy and paste the following text: #yfinancetrivia [answer] @yahoofinance

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Creator: School-to-parent @SCSSchoolMeals

• Somerset County Services (UK) publishes its school menu each day via Twitter; geared towards helping address child obesity

• Parents can follow @SCSSchoolmeals to receive a tweet each morning showing what’s on the school menu. Any parent, grandparent or care-giver can follow, whether their child currently eats school meals or not.

• Used to update parents on special theme days, how to apply for free school meals, etc.

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Creator: Coupon Broker @CouponTweet

Search for coupons

and discounts

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Creator: Sales @DellOutlet

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Creator: Diffusion - Dell AdoptAMini.com

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Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds

• Tech conferences in Europe, many attendees were wearing pendants called Pokens; which replace business cards

• Pokens have two parts: one is a plastic shell which you choose to reflect your identity

• The other is the hand part, which has a USB connector; plug your Poken into a PC and you can enter your social network IDs into it (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)

• Now if you meet someone, you can “high four” them, and your Pokens can exchange info once they come in close proximity to one another -- no more scribbling email addresses, etc.

• Best Real World Gadget (TechCrunch UK)

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Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds

If Pokens catch on here, consider implications for CPG, retailers, misc. marketers…

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Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds

• Visit Tweet My Bumper, site will print, ship bumper sticker

• "Follow me in traffic. Follow me on Twitter“

• Standard bumper sticker priced at $5 (includes promotional TweetMyBumper URL); $6 (without promo URL)

• Any business can borrow this concept!

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Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds

If you are interested in this

brand, ‘high four’ your Poken to

exchange info; receive product

offers, promo codes, samples…

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Recommendations

• Evaluate: where are you on the ladder? Where do you want to go?

• Plan: how do you intend to move up? Who will be the owner? Are there legal, compliance issues?

• Implement: make your plan real, find out what fails and what works, test and iterate…

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Questions?

Answers not guaranteed for completeness, accuracy or timeliness