Spreading the message via Twitter - provoking re-tweets of great content

Posted by: Nicholas O'Flaherty

When the National Business Review interviewed me recently on the role of Twitter, I told marketing reporter Hazel Phillips that those companies contemplating Twitter shouldn’t get too distracted by the early adopters who may appear to dominate the conversations with endless updates of banal goings-on. The fact remains that there is a remarkably high level of serious communication taking place on Twitter and, more significantly, much of this is exclusively taking place on Twitter. So my first comment to our clients is: if you are not there in the first place, how can you take part?

For communicators, Twitter can be a useful channel for spreading the message. In listing 8 principles for the Modern Blog, Jeremiah Owyang includes Twitter as one of the great tools that can facilitate the aggregation of content, whether done by yourself or others (though good relevant compelling content is always key, as Jeremiah reminds us in his first principle).

In our experience, re-tweeting blog posts or media coverage, selectively and intelligently, can greatly expand the reach of a story.  It’s a matter of harnessing the inter-connected communities that your followers and followees provide. But you’ve got to get it right - make sure you’re adding value.

For example this week, one of my Bullet PR colleagues Paul Matthews, drew attention via a tweet to a compelling blog post by Bullet PR client Real.Estate.co.nz which compared the current state of the property markets in the United States, Britain and New Zealand  (the story was first covered by the Sunday Star Times). Within an hour, two re-tweets by respected commentators had expanded the original audience tenfold. Again, good content is critical.

In this New York Times article published yesterday, reporter Claire Cain Miller highlights how businesses are deriving tangible benefits from Twitter. These include:

1. sales, eg: identifying and monitoring those who mention competitive products then later target them with one-to-one pitches

2. good old fashioned CRM (customer relationship management), eg: alerting customers to special discounts

3. research, eg: understanding what customers want

4. issue management, eg: rapid response to potential crises