CheezeDMG Blog

Twitter continues to be the number one marketing topic on everyone’s lips. As an agency we have been using Twitter as a means to connect with a wider audience and have more conversations than we have on the blog.

The blog continues to grow with a substantial boost in RSS followers this year which is a great sign. However, the blog is still quite one dimensional - we do get the occasional comment and we can see ‘who’ people are with mybloglog and Google Friend Connect (we have yet to try Twitter Remote) but we still wonder ‘who really is reading’?

One of the great things about Twitter is the ability to share information, connect with people and have one to one exchanges. None of them have to be long or complex but enough to build some form of relationship. But with Twitter we can’t expand our thoughts more than 140 characters so the blog definitely still has a role to play. Twitter does not replace the blog, neither replace Facebook - they are all channels that are independent of each other but mutually linked. They all have a role to play and will have an audience independent of each other with some element of overlap. If you are looking at evolving your brand strategy in social channels do consider all channels - they all have a role to play.

So the purpose of this post was to update on the world of Twitter. I am concious our last piece was about Twitter considering charging brands who use the service. This story was radiated, echoed, amplified in the hours that followed.

Brand Republic [site - twitter]who first broke the story were quick to post a story the following day which looked at the ramifications of the charging model. An excellent post that harnessed the wave of comments that followed the article to deliver much needed perspective.

So the current status is TWITTER WILL NOT CHARGE BRANDS and has no plans to.  This is what they posted;

… it’s important to note that whatever we come up with, Twitter will remain free to use by everyone—individuals, companies, celebrities, etc. What we’re thinking about is adding value in places where we are already seeing traction, not imposing fees on existing services.

Phew! I’m glad they cleared that up. In fact Twitter made a nice post from the fact taking snippets of the press coverage they received..

Twitter Coverage

So, Twitter continues to grow. Hitwise UK are watching the growth of Twitter and are now placing it in the top 100 traffic driving websites and in the top 5 social networks. You can keep up to date with their work on at www.twitter.com/hitwise_uk .On the Hitwise blog you can gain greater detail on these findings.

Despite a business plan, Twitter continues to raise capital, the latest round being £24.5m - pretty impressive in this market.

We are now seeing the ‘Twitter Effect’ replacing the ‘Digg Effect’ - which, if your link is picked up by a wide enough audience (and we mean wide) the potential avalanche of traffic could knock your site over for a limited time. Something that used to happen when your link hit the homepage of digg.com. You can read more about the ‘Twitter Effect’ here and the old ‘Digg Effect’ here.

And finally, Twitter is being used as a protest medium. From the 16th to the 23rd of February Creative Freedom are encouraging people to ‘blackout’ their profiles on all social networks in protest. You can read the background and instructions here. At this time not too many people (that are in my stream) have blacked out but it starts slowly. Tweets like this are the core to the campaign growing..

And that is they say, is it. Well, actually it isn’t. The market is changing before our eyes, faster than ever before. Blog posts like this become outdated all too soon. Another reason to be on Twitter.

If you liked this article, why don’t you follow us on Twitter?

If you need help with your brand in social networks or Twitter specifically, we can help

Jamie

www.twitter.com/jamieriddell

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• Report: Twitter overtakes Digg in popularity (macworld.com)

Digital Marketing Group plc, parent company of Cheeze has been named as the UK’s top digital business in a new report compiled by top marketing services, media and entertainment financial specialist, Kingston Smith W1.

The list, to be published in full on Thursday was commissioned by Campaign Magazine.

Commenting on the placing, Ben Langdon, DMG CEO said,

Being named as the UK’s largest digital business is testament to the drive and ambition DMG nurtures and enjoys. We have built a team of dedicated and dynamic experts in a wide range of digital, data and direct disciplines, and created an environment which enables them to deliver our clients cutting edge digital marketing.

The recession will have an impact on marketing, forcing brand owners to re-asses their marketing strategies and spend. Viral marketing, seen in some quarters as ‘frivolous’ still warrants attention and investment in 2009. Oli Christie, Creative Director of sister agency Inbox [a leader in viral games], has published a guest article at Net Imperative outlining why we should still consider viral marketing in 2009.

What better way to get consumers engaging and interacting with your brand than an absorbing, fun game? Quite simply, people like playing games – that’s why they buy an Xbox or Wii. So if you can give them simple, but crackingly addictive games for free, then it’s win-win.

The results are also important,

Recently for one client, through three advergames, we added over 250,000 new opt-ins to their e-mail database and increased sales by an impressive 15%. You can’t argue with that..Advergaming works

So marketers should take a good look at their digital budgets - with £50,000 or so they could be engaging and entertaining impressive numbers of current and potential customers and starting a rewarding customer relationship with them.

Inbox Viral Game

You can read the full article on Netimperative, or visit Inbox.co.uk for more.

As we head deeper into a financial recession, so the amount of articles increases about ‘retreating’ media spend to safe havens, ranging from paid search to ‘tried and tested’ television advertising. However, in these tough times it is too easy to forget the consumer. (During these times) brands may continue to spend money attracting the consumer through paid search or may increase the frequency of their CRM activity, but may forget to actually connect with their consumer in other social channels.

The myth social media is not accountable will have an impact on the brand thirst for social networks. The fact that social networks can be incredibly accountable is important but worth a separate posting.

When consumer spending is tight, brands will need to work that bit harder to convince the consumer to spend with them. Whilst pricing can be a method to encourage spending, it will not work for all brands in all sectors - not everyone can be the cheapest. Moreover, the consumer needs reassurance that their money is going to the right place, they need help to understand why they should spend money with one brand over another; and they could do with some love.

Search as a consumer marketing strategy is a strong one - it is accountable, it can deliver volume and profit but will fall slightly short of achieving a deeper connection with the consumer. A social strategy - as a structured and accountable investment - has the ability to achieve more connection with the consumer , understanding what the consumer is looking for [which in turn can help define search strategies] as well as becoming closer to the consumer, ensuring their brand is top of mind for purchasing decisions.

Brands that successfully harness social media as part of a wider marketing mix will have a strong opportunity succeed.

Last week we talked to Simon Larcey of Martech Global, on the subject of branded social networks. Simon and I worked together to bring you our five top tips for building your own social network.

1. Research your market

If you have an audience with a specific interest, find out how many use social networks and ask if they would benefit from a dedicated network. Make sure their is a need before you invest in the project. Think also about the content, will the audience really want to connect over an insurance product?

2. Give members benefits.
The success of a network comes down to the amount of people that join and utilise the service. Networks should offer benefits and incentives to each member and encourage them to invite their friends and use the platform. If your audience is active in other social channels there needs to be a compelling reason to take them away from their day to day activities to connect on a new channel. Niche networks should also provide some level of content about the interest as a hook to get members in - it should be a combination of information and UGC.

3. Regularly communicate with your members.

When you have created a network, regularly communicate with your audince. Martech, for example incorporate M.Direct - an email system that allows you to email your members and share news and updates. If you use Facebook make regular use of the email members function to ensure there is a regular dialogue. Regular communication with members will improve the sites usage and will encourage loyalty from members

4. Provide Intelligent Targeting Solutions

Most networks can generate additional revenue from advertising. Niche networks provide better responses, at the potential expense of volume. If you are looking to build your own network, do ensure there are a variety of advertising solutions to maximise their responses and the level of income you can generate. Remember, if this is a branded social network you may not want to give access to other advertisers so look at these placements for cross selling or upselling the business.

5. Be aware of the potential down side.

The potential downside should not be ignored, nor should it stop any business looking at social networks as an opportunity. The downside could be financial, we’ve heard of a dog food company investing a reported million pounds developing a network then didn’t launch. Similarly if a brand launches and nobody comes, what does that say about the brand [again, we've heard  of a radio station building a network that never took off.] There is no need to reinvent the wheel, but that does not mean you rely solely on partnering with the major social networks. By planning from top to bottom, including the plan for potential downsides, you can achieve a successful social network.

So, these are the first 5 steps - there are many more to be done but it may set you in the right direction. If you need help, then talk to Cheeze, we help clients develop successful social media strategies as part of our wider digital marketing work.

Thanks to Simon Larcey at Martech Global for contributing to this article.