How I learned to like Twitter after vehemently hating everything about it (hint: I found other car crazy people) May 20, 2009 Chris Baccus

Social Media Participation Junkie

What is Twitter in One Dumb Slide

• 140 word micro-blogging site

• You can follow friends, co-workers, brands, celebrities, experts, and a lot of people you dont know

• It can be about sharing mundane nonsense, but that is pointless

• Its more about sharing knowledge, interesting finds, and bit-sized thoughts

Twitter Stats

• Twitter Traffic Grows 1,382% In A Year (Feb. 08 vs. Feb. 09)

• 17 million unique visitors in April 2009

• Ranks as third largest social network

• Average user spends 7.9 minutes a day

• 53% of users are female

Twitter U.S. Adoption

• 60% of Twitter users fail to return in one month.

Index of Twitter Users by Age Group

My First Few Weeks

• Followed a bunch of social media experts

Insight: Massive Diminishing Return. Follow no more than 3

Finally Some Good Advice

• Need to answer: Why are you on Twitter?

• Professional Reason: To engage better with automotive minded people, brands, experts to gain marketing insights or trends and to promote my Auto Marketing Blog.

• Personal Reason: I love talking cars

Insight: Find people who share your interests

Communicate Effectively

• Communicate value

• Its okay to promote your blog just dont ONLY do that

• Dont just share links - share why

Insight: Remember everything you say is public

My Tweet Cloud I average 5.7 Tweets per day

My Follow Strategy Insight: If you dont find value, purge Followed auto brands, dealers and publications Sometimes followed commentators who engaged with those accounts Followed people and websites I frequented Purged banal users and copy/paste cats

Why are they following me? Why are they following me? Why are they following me?

How I Engage

• Flock

• Tweetie

• TweetGrid

• BigTweet

Autos on Twitter

Some of My Favorite Auto Follows

Auto Public Relations on Twitter

• Hailed as an effective way to monitor reputation, buzz, opinions, trends

• Comcast and JetBlue are the darlings of PR Twittering

Auto Community on Twitter A chat all about cars, every Wed. Night from 8-10pm EST

Auto Contest Buzz - Nissan Cube Canada

Contest Effectiveness

• Too Early to Tell

• Negative: Most of the banter is less about the brand and more about those wanting to get votes for a contest

• Positive: Some coverage is done by traditional and online media that gets the brand mentioned in new ways

• Buzz Measures Misleading: When analyzing the success of a contest try to isolate discussions about the product, campaign, and brand to gage if it was a success.

Who Is Using Twitter Most Effectively for Marketing?

• My Vote: Volvo XC60

• Why? Promotion of ride and drive events, engages with community, searches for those commenting on Volvo, shares information beyond just their launch.

• Extra-Credit

Volvos YouTube Twitter Ad Used DoubleClick's rich media dynamic data feed capability Largest expandable unit ever placed on YouTube's home page Volvo is about humanity. Twitter is about humanity. http://www.thevolvotwitterad.com/

An Effective Campaign Using Twitter

• Initial Goal: Stay connected to intenders by promoting test-drive events

An Effective Campaign Using Twitter

• 2. Found Natural Ways to Engage with Twitter Community

An Effective Campaign Using Twitter

• 3. Engagement in Volvo Related Tweets in a Welcoming Manner

And Lastly Twitter is not a Strategy Strategy Message Delivery

Questions?

Thank You Christopher Baccus http://www.automarketingblog.com