How brands can exploit Twitter

Not too long ago, social media such as Twitter and Facebook used to source content from mainstream media and contributed a great deal in message multiplication. The likes of Facebook and Twitter, for a good time of their existence, depended on mainstream media to source content. Facebook’s acknowledgement for its dependence on good content can be understood from its multiple initiatives such as Facebook Newsroom and other partnerships which it is planning with entities such as The New York Times and Buzzfeed. While this process in which social media sources content from traditional mainstream media still continues, a new trend of content curation in mainstream media is being observed. In this new trend, it’s the social media which is the principal content generator and then the content appears even grander by its adoption by mainstream media.

Many brands and businesses have been at the forefront of this new trend. It has been seen recently how content and news from brands becomes a talking point on social media and then turns into a matter of debate and discourse in mainstream media too. This has offered brands a new way to be a part of the popular discussion resulting in huge media attention, something which all brands and businesses yearn for.

It’s not just hefty budgets for corporate communication and PR which can garner media’s attention for brands. Brands can expect immense media attention because of their stand on a social subject or conversation with their followers. It seems, for brands and businesses, there are new methods to master for some easy and unpaid promotion on mainstream media. Enough eyeballs can be guaranteed through smart social media management, which was earlier possible only through big budget campaigns or serious PR efforts.

Here is what brands and businesses can do:

Get a conversation going on a noble subject or take a stand on social subjects

Get it covered in the content sites such as Scoop Whoop, Storypick, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Logical Indians; get some 2,000 people to share it on Facebook

Get noticed by traditional mainstream media

Enjoy the promotion and goodwill earned.

Consider this recent instance: In this case, the publicity that taxi service Ola got was not just on the stand that it took on the subject (though we appreciate brands doing that), but a result of the message amplification online. Since information exchange happened on a medium like Twitter (that surely makes Twitter a wining platform where real conversation happens), it was picked up by media immediately. Smart brands can, and are, cleverly making full use of the proclivity of news organisations to fall for this kind of dialogue going on in social media. Useful or not, it does make for an interesting read in the online world, where every little or big happening can become news overnight or rather, in a few minutes.

Picture this case five years ago: Imagine a situation where there is no Twitter and the same conversation which took place between this person and Ola had happened over the phone. Would the traditional media still have considered this newsworthy? Had this been brought to the media’s notice by the corporate communications manager, even with written proof, I am sure publications and mainstream media would have ignored it, considering it trivial.

The kind of work which was done by corporate communication until a few years ago is now being done by a public relations manager.

Why this trend?

Media is biased towards Twitter: The bias is easy to understand. On a general level, journalists’ love for Twitter is for the same reason celebrities love it. Twitter in certain ways reinforces the broadcast model of communication which celebrities and star journalists are so used to. The broadcast model says, ‘I say, you listen, and the choice to ignore you rests with me’. Conversation on Twitter appears to be more authentic compared to other social media platforms.

More sites, more content required: The mushrooming of content sites means that there’s this daily pressure of creating new content. Conversely for brands it means that there is enough media available for any kind of stories that they can create (and it works wonders if there is a hint of spice stirred with emotions).

Media’s fear of losing out to the new-age Internet-based companies: The mainstream media companies might not really look up to the kind of trivial content being dished out by the new content portals. Still, there is a growing perception amongst the established media companies that they are losing out a large chunk of younger audiences to these new content consumption trends. This is resulting in traditional media entertaining frivolous content games many a time.

The tacit message for brands is this: Don't create incidents but don't leave an opportunity to make a story of incidents. And yes, let it reach the media.

Does the trend pose any problem? Till the time conversation is around good social messages, we might not see people start to complain, unless the mainstream media plays into the hands of social media manipulators.

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