Yesterday we leveled the boom on the popularity of Twitter from Edison Research that stated on 7% (17 million) of the US Populations actually uses the service. To help our clients, it is important to know who should and should not use the service to market their brand or products...
"Who Shouldn't
And just as clearly some companies don't belong on Twitter - or at least shouldn't be spending a significant portion of their marketing budget on it. These include:
Companies that don't have a mobile strategy or presence.
There is a strong tie between Twitter and mobile, Social Media Today notes, with 63% of Twitter users accessing social networks via mobile phone, and 73% sending SMS text messages multiple times per day.Mass-market brands with straightforward products.
Gillette is a good example, says Fast Company. Brands such as Gillette that are positioned based on functionality superiority are not likely to benefit from a social campaign, according to a study by Vivaldi-Lightspeed.In that study, 96% of respondents in the study tout Gillette's good quality and reliability. At that point, Gillette should take that goodwill and run, the study goes on to say."Conversation might lead to a discussion of downsides such as price and alternative products," says Markus Zinnbauer, a director Vivaldi. (via Fast Company).
Small businesses that don't have a significant online or social media presence.
That group is far larger than one might realize, according to a recent Citigroup study. Most small businesses today aren't leveraging the basic online tools readily available to them to help grow their businesses, the study found.Namely, in the last year 37% of small businesses have not used a website for marketing or expanding their business and 84% have not used e-commerce to sell their products or services. Additionally, 62% aren't using basic email for marketing their business.Before such a company jumps on the Twitter bandwagon it would be far better off to master these fundamental online marketing tools - particularly email marketing. Local reputation tools such as Yelp would be the exception."