Twitter is one of the most important direct marketing and sales channels available today. The service is free of charge, attracts a global audience of companies and consumers, produces breaking news, and provides competitive intelligence for brand management. Unfortunately, there remains a disconnect, a devaluation of the network that prevents many organizations, even today, from leveraging the Twitter.
5 Reasons Your Company May Never Adopt Twitter
- Name Perception: as humans we have a tendency to attach positive or negative value to names. Twitter does not sound like a lead generation, one on one communication tool. Instead, Twitter may suffer from people's perception that it will be a passing fad or useless network.
- ROI: people who peruse the site come away with the quick impression that it is nothing more than broadcasting, boasting, or innocuous commentary with no rhyme nor reason. They know major brands are participating but they do not see anything more than noise.
- Preparation: most companies do not prepare to launch their Twitter accounts with the same care they take in preparation to launch a blog. Brands are often guilty of hurrying to create a presence without understanding the strategy they will utilize, the network's capabilities, or the etiquette involved in participating on Twitter.
- Time: once a company begins to understand the benefits of Twitter, they are faced with the reality of how long Twitter takes to implement and support. It is the reality that Twitter requires consistent time expenditures that often kills adoption.
- Buy-In: enterprise wide buy-in is necessary for a Twitter strategy to be successful for nearly all companies. In many instances, it's nearly impossible for all departments, levels of management, and decision makers to agree on how this network can benefit the firm. Without solidarity, adoption does not happen.
Where Do They Go From Here?
The key to a company adopting Twitter begins with a thorough research and educational campaign. Without the proper due diligence steps, brands are better off sitting on the sidelines, monitoring consumers, and planning a strategy.
About the Author: Dean Guadagni
Dean Guadagni is the Business Director for Inner Architect a direct marketing firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dean's focus is the integration of social media with direct marketing. He is a Twitter, Facebook, and blog consultant in the wine industry.
