Page 169 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

» Making special offers, deals, and discounts: Timely special offers, deals,
and discounts are often communicated through Twitter. Customers respond
quickly to these Twitter deals and often spread the word to their own follow-
ers. Some companies have set up special deal handles through which they
tweet about deals. One example of a company setting up a special deals
handle for tweeting about deals on a regular basis is @delloutlet. The Dell
Outlet Twitter handle has approximately 1.2 million Twitter followers.

» Customer service: Companies use Twitter as an alternative customer service
option. They listen for customer complaints and respond to those customers
via Twitter itself, or at the very least, they begin the response on Twitter
before moving to a phone call or an email exchange. Comcast, JetBlue, and
Home Depot are all examples of companies that have successfully used
Twitter for customer service.
» Engaging meaningfully with customers: Different companies take different
approaches to engaging in a meaningful way with their customers via Twitter.
Nike has a separate account, @NikeSupport, that encourages its community
to support each other as well as provide customer support. Whole Foods
provides healthful recipes. It also asks its customers what they like to
read and watch and then recommends new food podcasts and invites the
customers to upcoming company or in-store events.

Using Promoted Accounts

Twitter has several advertising products that enable marketers to reach their cus-
tomers more effectively via Twitter. The first of these available to advertisers is
Promoted Accounts, shown in Figure 9-2, which draws attention to your Twitter
account. When you buy the Promoted Accounts offering, your Twitter account
name appears in the Who to Follow area in the right side of the Twitter screen,
with Promoted captioned below it. It may also appear in other places on Twitter
encouraging people to follow you.

You can target who should see your Promoted Account via factors such as geogra-
phy, interests, and profile descriptions. Promoted Accounts are priced on either an
impression basis, which means that you pay for the number of people who see the
Promoted Account listing, or by the number of people who choose to follow you.
The latter can vary dramatically based on consumer interest levels.

Although having the most followers on Twitter isn’t a true measure of success,
it’s valuable to build a base of followers who in turn can help you get others as
they interact with you on the platform. Promoted Accounts helps you build this
base and is especially valuable for when you’re about to launch a new product or

CHAPTER 9 Marketing on Twitter 153