Twitter's Marketing Strategy: How Twitter Attracts and Keeps Users

 Twitter's Marketing Strategy: How Twitter Attracts and Keeps Users

Twitter’s unique features have allowed it to become one of the most popular social networks in the world, with over 5% of the total global population using it every month. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Twitter has also been steadily increasing its revenue, reporting earnings of $312 million in the first quarter of 2013. How exactly did Twitter achieve this? What are its marketing strategies and how do they work? Let’s find out in this guide on Twitter’s marketing strategy.

• Microblogging

With 100 million active users tweeting every single day, Twitter is an amazing marketing tool that can do wonders for a business. It connects businesses with people in a fast, easy way. By advertising with hashtags like #promo to get people to use the same terms they use in their ad, there is a higher chance of the advertisement being seen. Twitter also uses something called retweeting where if someone wants to share content they come across on Twitter, they have the option to copy and paste the URL into their own tweet as well as retweet it by clicking the retweet button. The more you retweet, the higher you are seen by other followers on Twitter. The last thing I want to mention about this is how hashtag chats work. Hashtag chats are when people talk about a certain topic or event (ex: #daveswetdream) and try to get others involved in the conversation. They take place on specific days or during specific events (ex: Superbowl) so you know what hashtag to look for.

• Real-time News

Twitter is a social networking site where users can post short messages called tweets. Tweets can contain links, words, images, or videos. The name is derived from Tweet and Twit. Tweets are mainly used to quickly share short thoughts. People typically read tweets at the time they receive them instead of following someone on Twitter. This system encourages spontaneous updates because there are many ways to notify people when you update your profile or tweet. New users find it easier to use than other social networking sites because of this design. Users feel that their tweeting activity is more private than their Facebook activity. As opposed to Facebook, which allows friends of friends to see posts, Twitter only allows people that follow each other to see posts. In contrast with Facebook's more open approach, this way of doing things helps make some postings less public. Another way in which Twitter has been successful in marketing its service is by employing celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Ashton Kutcher who have millions of followers on the site. With these celebrity endorsements, many people are likely to join in order not to miss out on any major news about their favorite stars

• Who Else is There?

To start, it is important to know who is there, what their expectations are, how they use the site, and who you can find there. Since launching in 2006, Twitter has quickly grown to become one of the top social networking sites with a reported 1.3 billion users each month. The demographic that makes up most of this user base is males between the ages of 18-24 years old (Kolonko). However, when you look at it from another perspective women actually make up more of the demographic than males between 18-24 years old. Another thing that may come as a surprise is that the median age for US residents on Twitter was 33 (ComScore). What does this mean? It means that not only does Twitter have a diverse range of demographics but also appeals to people across different age ranges. In order to continue attracting these new customers and retaining them, it is necessary for them to understand the history of the site and the culture behind it.

• Direct Communication

In order to start marketing, it is important to have a specific plan. One of the things that Twitter does is direct communication. They do this through two ways - Instant Replay, which shows live tweeting on the screen for 30 seconds following a television show airing on TV, and Twitter for TV app, which gives an additional screen for content. In order to reach its audience even better, Twitter is collaborating with cable providers to create an app that will allow subscribers to use features like Tweeting from their TVs or mobile devices connected to their televisions. These are just some of the ways that Twitter chooses specific tactics in an effort to attract and keep users engaged in social media.

• It’s a Community

In the words of its own CEO, Twitter is what’s happening. And to continue as a place for people from all over the world to have authentic conversations, it needs to remain a truly public service—which means no ads, at least not yet. With that in mind, it’s clear why having a marketing strategy may seem like an unnecessary obstacle in the company’s quest for relevance. But with an established base of 200 million monthly active users (MAUs) on desktop alone, the competition is fierce.

• Pull Instead of Push

An important element of Twitter's marketing strategy is to attract new users by developing hashtags with the intent to be used on trending topics. These hashtags create instant crowds around conversations of interest, making them easier for people to join or take part in the discussions. Another key strategy is the use of ads. Recently, they started a marketing campaign that offers celebrities 30 seconds of free airtime on television if they tweet a promo video. This type of tactic has been known to work in other TV promotions, so it may be successful for their needs. Using this information you can see that Twitter relies heavily on pulling users towards content with specific trending topics or TV promos rather than pushing ads out at them.

• Getting Started

Establishing a social media presence is more than a marketing strategy, it’s about defining your online identity. Facebook, for example, is not just a business page; it’s what you call home. In the same way that Nike isn’t just selling shoes or Coca-Cola isn’t just selling cola (okay they are), social media has gone beyond trying to generate buzz.

The most important things on your home page are the people you interact with on it.