Top brands using Twitter - November 2009
This year it looks like Santa will be checking his list on SNS (Social Networking Sites).
According to shop.org forty seven per cent of webRetailers and food chains are opting out of traditional Christmas marketing channels in preference for the web. Reuters also reports that marketers believe 2009 will herald a new high for use of the SNS over the crucial Christmas period.
To reach loyal followers, marketers are reportedly gearing up to intensify their use of Twitter, Facebook et al. Many are hoping to lure consumers with offers such as ‘free shipping and handling’ as well as loyalty vouchers.
Growing web-space
The SNS market is huge – Facebook alone has 300 million users – up from 250 million in July. In March, YouTube reached 100 million monthly viewers. In the US. 6.3 billion videos were viewed on the site.
According to Mashable.com there will be around 18 million Twitter users by the end of 2009. Forrester Research reckons that by the end of 2009, spending on social media marketing in the US alone will reach £370 million in value. (Compare SNS stats)
For this year at least, the good news keeps on coming. Shop.org’s study suggests that despite the credit crunch, over a third (37%) of consumers will shop more online when compared to last year . It also reveals 86% of UK online shoppers are shopping the same or more online overall compared to six months ago, citing trust (78%) and selection (70%) and value (70%) as the key reasons. eBay Advertising is predicting that 85% will maintain or increase their online shopping.
Decreasing mind-space
However, From a brand forensics point of view, once the holiday season rush for online bargains is over – so boosting SNS popularity – there is a potential real and imminent danger that so much over exposure of brands overtly selling rather than informing and supporting surfers could lead to millions of SNS followers simply switching off.
According to Mashable.com, despite an incredible growth in 2008 of 422%, leading to a billion dollar valuation, over the past months, a full 60% of Twitter users who signed up, failed to return the following month.
Plans are now well under way to boost a sense of community sharing and so individual empowerment offered by Twitter. Such plans include ‘Project Retweting’. (Retweeting is the practice of sharing interesting links and tweets on Twitter by adding “RT” plus the originator’s username at the start of the tweet.
Twitter is also being positioned as the new SMS to replace traditional text messaging.
According to a recent US survey by Robert Half Technology of 1,400 CIOs of companies with 100 or more employees, 54% now completely block employees from accessing social networking sites at work.
In conclusion: whilst Santa may be checking his list, surfers will checking to see if brands using SNS sites are being ‘naughty – not nice’. And if their findings aren’t positive, in a world where the voice of the people isn’t just heard, but needs to be heeded, by this time next year brands could be looking forward to something far less festive than they are currently expecting.
Jonathan Gabay
www.brandforensics.co.uk
Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 amand is filed under Brand expert, Branding, Misc, social network sites, twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
