There’s something about Twitter

Organic reach has become harder and harder for brands on Facebook. But over the years, the Other Social Network has been capitalising on user attention, even winning over once reticent brands. By including ‘Twitter for Business’, the once underestimated 140-character platform, with about 500 million users, has enabled brands to leverage both its strategic limits and new features to drive campaigns and regular conversations.

Although not all brands were quick on the uptake, most brands on Twitter now know the hashtag is serious business. As are Vine or Twitter cards or sponsored posts. With Twitter for Business, the platform created a new world order of sorts where influencers rule, where brands find life pretty and risky all at the same time (it’s not just celebrities that get into trouble on Twitter!) and where ‘viral’ is a speed never reckoned with before.

On Twitter, how much a brand talks matters. Conversation drives the campaign, with mentions and retweets and favourites adding to impact, and receiving “no negative mentions” is a feather in the cap.

Rishi Dogra, Head of Digital – PO1, Pepsico India, says, “We’ve seen a consistent increase in our follower base thanks to innovative campaigns … whenever we activate big campaigns and platforms such as during Pepsi IPL or festive campaigns such as Gharwali Diwali , we’ve seen a huge surge in conversations.”

A senior spokesperson for Hero Motocorp says, “It’s arguably the most ‘real-time’ of all social media platforms. Twitter can be used to create awareness, drive engagement, and it can also be used for customer service.”

Pepsi, Lay’s and Mountain Dew were among the first of Pepsico’s brands to have a presence on Twitter in 2011. Later, many of the group’s other brands joined the platform. The brand says that a few of its Twitter campaigns have also received international acclaim.

Hero MotoCorp has, over two-and-a-half years, gained traction on its two Twitter handles, @HeroMotoCorp and @HeroPleasure. The brand claims the follower count has mostly grown organically, and from integrating Twitter with on-ground promotions to associating with youth properties such as Roadies.

MTV was on Twitter as early as 2008. Eklavya Bhattacharya, Head – Digital Media, MTV India is full of anecdotes about the brand’s journey with what he calls a “more personal” platform. He says Twitter and other social platforms are critical to business at MTV.

“At MTV, digital is a mix of reach, engagement and profitability. The reach and engagement has to eventually translate to business and therefore we integrate Twitter and related innovations into all our content initiatives.”

It was for Roadies Season 8 (2010-11) that MTV integrated Twitter for the first time with its content. During the final episode, Bhattacharya says, six out of 10 trending topics on Twitter were related to Roadies.

The brand measured the amount of conversations centred on a particular contestant.

This data was shared with the programming team who could give a little more screen time to the ‘socially popular’ contestants. Roadies has grown enough in popularity to have its own handle.

In time, what’s going to be both interesting and critical for brands is how Twitter evolves to stay ahead regardless of how many new platforms emerge or lose sheen. But can this happen without brands losing out?

Says Pepsico’s Rishi Dogra, “Features like regional languages or Periscope have created new requirements within the audiences, while fulfilling existing demands. Twitter has been innovating on its features based on user needs and brands are adapting to newer ways of leveraging Twitter.”

Twitter’s largest competition Facebook can, in spite of the clutter on it, tailor ads and target audiences. A few days ago, Twitter announced that it would enable “instant and historical access” to all public tweets in its nine years of existence as a network. This will help brands insightfully tailor communication and campaigns and inform their product launches better.

But as Eklavya Bhattacharya of MTV points out, “Twitter is great for discovery, for catching breaking news or following celebrities. It’s not yet a platform where you will log on to catch the latest video.” And video is becoming increasingly important for brands and users.

In spite of its best efforts, Twitter lags way behind Facebook on user numbers. Its ability to create a major impact with small bursts of engaging content keeps it afloat. Stepping up its video creation, sharing and hosting capabilities will take it further even if it remains a 140-character platform for years to come.

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