The first part of the series Leveraging Twitter, I acknowledged that I lacked experience with Twitter. However, I am quite familiar with the service since I’ve been following the developments of it for some time. After writing part one, I immediately signed up for the service for more research to see if there’s something there that I already didn’t know about. To my disappointment, I didn’t find anything all that fun and exciting. I still don’t see myself Twitting anytime soon.
As mentioned in part one, Twitter would benefit most to those who are looking to build a fan base or a following. Musicians and bands can greatly benefit from this micro-blogging service. It allows the acts to build a sense of an exclusive community and develop close and almost personal relationships with their fans. Being a music fan, I constantly visit my favorite bands web sites for updates on tour dates, album releasing, special appearances, etc. Taking it a step further, bands can use Twitter to instantly send updates to their followers/fans about:
- Recent site updates
- Tour dates
- Band related news
- New releases
- Recording progress
- Special appearances
- Announce secret shows
… and to make it more personal bands should keep their fans updated with the life on the road, the books they’re reading, current sources of inspiration and so on.
These days every entertainment outlet is competing for our limited attention spans and our limited disposable incomes. Thus, musicians and bands need to synergistically utilize every tool available to them to gain an edge in developing and maintaining solid fan bases to keep their own careers alive.
I was inspired to write an opinion piece on Twitter by a friend, who asked what I thought of Twitter. I’d be the first to admit that I have not used Twitter. However, I am keen to point out that I am very familiar with the service. I’ve been following Twitter’s development, launch and mass adoption since its inception. Twitter came to my attention in early of 2007, (the source of Twitter discovery escapes my memory) but I never gave much thought to it. In the recent months it’s been gaining a great deal of momentum. Almost on daily basis there is an article about Twitter; covering every topic from how twitter can be monetized to server and services issues.
I was more interested in reading about Twitter than using it. There are reasons why I have not used it, or saw the need to. Using Twitter is like being in a band… you need to build a fan base before Twitter has any value to you.
To build a fan-base, or in Twitter terms, the followers, you need to:
- Twit frequently
- Have something meaningful to say
- Get your friends to start following you before the masses do
The reason why I don’t use Twitter is for the same reasons above and more:
- I would not have enough time and lack dedication to Twit frequently enough
- The things I do would probably not be interesting enough for other people to know about, which leads me to the next point
- My followers would probably get annoyed if I post about the color of my socks today
- I do enjoy a certain sense of privacy
Although I am not about to start using Twitter, but I think Twitter would benefit public figures most. Bands, artists, celebrities, politicians, brands, and so on. Twitter can be monetized (an often discussed topic on blogs) by leveraging public figures, who rely on fan base and audiences to be successful.
In Part 2 I will discuss how public figures can leverage Twitter.
Question: Who out there thinks that advertising on trash cans and bus benches is an effective way to spend advertising dollars? Unless you’re a used car salesman, real estate agent or a pizza shop you’d say that advertising on benches and trash cans is a disgusting waste of money. There are several reasons why I think that this type of out of home advertising is ineffective:
- it tarnishes brand image and equity
- ads are usually small
- ads are poorly designed
- ads tend to be blocked by dirt on the trash can or by people sitting on the bench waiting for the bus
With that being said, I was almost converted into believing otherwise when I saw a MINI Cooper ad.
The advertising agency used a previously ugly and useless medium and made it attractive and effective. It’s design is simple, slick, and the wrap advertising utilizes trash cans disposal holes as a part of it’s message.
I would typically walk by it and never give it one (never mind the second) look, but this time I was stopped in my tracks. However, I am not convinced that this type of advertising will translate to direct sales immediately, but perhaps in the long term. What MINI is doing is reinforcing it’s cool, youthful, fun and rebellious brand image. The ad also playfully encourages you to get rid of your old and boring car.
Although the advertising agency has done a great job (with MINI Cooper brand) with this wrap advertising, I am still skeptical about the effectiveness of trash can advertising.
