Article: “Who Finds Twitter More Effective, Advertisers or Consumers?”
Source: eMarketer
The graph on eMarketer shows that both advertisers as the consumers are not perceiving Twitter as effective.
The advertisers’ results:
“In addition to the 8% of advertisers who said Twitter was very effective for promotion, 50% said it was somewhat effective. More than three in 10 (34%) said it was not very effective and 8% felt it was not effective at all.”
The consumers’ results:
“8% said it was very effective, 42% believed it to be somewhat effective, 31% said it was not very effective and 19% felt it was not at all effective.”
The article concludes that whilst marketers are jumping the bandwagon, consumers lack awareness and acceptance which prevents Twitter from being an effective marketing tool.
Three points need to be considerated regarding the effectiveness and unfamiliarity of Twitter.
* What kind of promotion and marketing is applied in relation to commiting Twitter as a tactic?
This impacts the effectiveness which is researched in the article. If promotional efforts are pushed through the Twitter channel but it aren’t correctly modified for Twitter, the effects are ineffectiveness and create annoyance. If marketers apply old rules for new ways, Twitter won’t become an important channel within the buying cycle.
* Consumers need reasons for using Twitter.
Acceptance and awareness are part of the marketer to establish in the minds and attitudes of their customers and target groups. Acceptance and awareness can be achieved by introducing relevant and unique reasons for customers to use Twitter. Think of “last-second” offers, offers specially for Twitter users (because the real-time reach and spread of the message can be much higher than an email campaign or announcement on the site).
It’s not neccesarly the task of consumers to know all the communication channels. Many don’t know the second-tier social networks as well, does this mean these aren’t important or effective? Does this mean consumers should not be educated? It’s normal that innovators and early adopters are familiar with new applications and the early and late majority isn’t. Target groups are spread amongst the different adoption groups, marketers need to reach them as well.
* How is the Twitter account organized?
From a practicle point of view, if the Twitter account’s purpose is vague, nor the marketing efforts are going to be effective, nor will consumers understand the need and benefit for it. Attention is scarce, consumers are getting more demanding and less patient. The first impression must be good to achieve a positive attitude.
Marketers need to overcome the gap that is created between new channels and their target groups, pro-activeness is needed. If relevant and consistent efforts are exposed through Twitter, the awareness and acceptation will come.
What could marketers do more to fasten the adoption process?
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