Know your Audience, Your Customers

Marketers are increasingly engaging with consumers on social media platforms and Twitter, in particular, has received, and continues to gain, attention. From shock tactics, to useful value propositions like @amazonmp3 content feed, brands are revealing themselves on Twitter. We are starting to hear of stories about top executives calling meetings about how they should "get on Twitter" and saying, "We need a social media profile." But should they? Do they?>

Twitter may not be right for every brand or brand marketing team. Here are a few points brands should consider:

• What's your position, your brand's history? Can you sum it up simply

• Partnership -- who's your service provider? This is where agency partners can help.

• The long-term legacy plan of the social profile. How long is it maintained?

• Who maintains the brand's voice? Does a brand ambassador exist?

• How well do you know your brand's age demographic?

• Listen. Engage. Respond.

• Embrace relationships with power users. Reiterate brand position.

• Love it, live it. Street cred is essential.

Twitter users are in the process of creating a culture. In the enculturation of traditions of acts and practices that last, brands have opportunity to live with legacy and affinity. Twitter is reflective of a band society: a small collective that shares a cultural bond or credo with a larger group. Social bonds are formed that hold beyond the daily grind that modern life brings with it.

The "power users" continue to increase in usage and followings on Twitter and other social networks. Have you seen how many followers they have? Currently, @ijustine has 331,653 followers. Brands should recognize power users as a possible path to becoming involved in Twitter. After all, someone needs to maintain the content. Someone, or a collective of users maintain the @cnnbrk. This feed has over 729,324 followers. It's breaking news straight to your mobile device. Distilled into just a simple line of 140 characters.

A brand profile can take many forms. It could feel like a user profile for legitimacy or conform to the brand's guidelines. What the creative execution looks like can make a difference. How it relates to the brand and the brand message is just as important as the feed of information. A number of refreshes and evolutions will most likely need to be planned. Frequent visitors and subscribers pay attention to such changes. "Why is it worth someone's time" should also be a regular question brands ask. What does it offer a user over time?

Skittles continues to miss a direct dialog with users. The press it received around the social media stunt reflects this. People are talking about it, so it wins when it comes to name association, which is how it used Twitter. It collects what users are saying on Twitter. The miss here is the failure for the direct dialog and more of exhibitionism.

Twitter is effective because you can have conversations with a variety of people. Meanwhile, @Starbuck is engaging fellow Twitters with authenticity. Apparently, a store employee, @Starbucks is apparently pumping cups of joe and twittering in between -- bingo, an authentic brand ambassador. The writer is talking about life, how @Starbucks fits into theirs, about the business and a touch of social commentary.

@amazonmp3 has value propositions being fed through a Twitter feed. It is using Twitter both, as an extension of the brand and as a service to users and consumers. Amazon is about added value and discounts, in a simple way, with no overhead; aside from strategy and URL creation, it is offering a mobile campaign to users who follow it. It is also reaching users who come across the feed in Google organic search or by visiting its Twitter page.

Public perception should be tested prior to executing a social profile and engaging in social media. The direct conversation that is implemented and then continues to spread among the community is what every marketer's goal is when activating social media campaigns. But the conversation needs to provide substance and authenticity, be maintained, and provide a frame of reference. What does a brand offer and how do consumers perceive that brand is of paramount importance when deciding if Twitter is right for your brand and campaign.