Twitter, based in California and valued at over 1bn has rolled out their plan for ‘promoted tweets’. The move is in a bid to honour its 1bn valuation as it so far does not make any money. So far, in the four years it s been running, Twitter has managed to resist any move towards traditional advertising, claiming they are looking to build value before profit.
Recently launched was the eagerly awaited ‘promoted tweets’, a marketing opportunity that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone describes as “ordinary tweets that businesses and organisations want to highlight to a wider group of users”.
To keep the natural feel of Twitter, the executives insist the tweets “resonate with users”, only allowing tweets to remain present if they are retweeted and replied to in order to prevent a spam effect. Initially, the tweets will appear at the top of search results like Google ‘sponsored links’ but a second development will see them integrated into the feeds of individual users.
There are thousands of companies that have made successful use of twitter but a handful of large international firms have really created ROI. Starbucks has primarily used Twitter as a promotional tool but also a platform for customer service. It has been hugely successful in promoting customer interaction and relationships with the brand.
Starbucks almost became public enemy number one after their ruthless drive for monopolisation with their overpriced coffee. However they were able to successfully manage social media, namely twitter, in a way that promoted their customer interaction and build personal relationships with consumers. Using the promoted tweets would allow Starbucks to reach millions of potential customers and, if managed like their usual tweets, should build relationships with an even bigger group of customers.
Experts have said how companies like Starbucks could provide offers and discounts to anyone who ‘retweets’ a message which could provide a huge level of ‘word-of-mouth’ promotion at no extra cost than the original tweet.
Starbucks have also begun to offer discount to customer who bring their own mugs rather than using disposable cups in a bid to tackle their environmental impact.
Tags: breakfast, caffeine, Coffee, cups, drinking, marketing, milk, social networking, sugar, twitter