The Blog on Branding

Tweeting in the Marketplace

What makes a good tweet, and why marketers should care

It is sweeping the nation, attracting attention with celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Oprah. You guessed it, the phenomenon is…Twitter!

Okay, old news? Perhaps. But despite the buzz, few marketers today seem to know what to make of it.

“Their icon is equally perplexed.”


(In case you have been locked in a closet for the last couple of years, you can check out this whole “Twitter thing” via Wikipedia, another internet sharing database professionals love. Not.)

By the end of this blog, I hope to explore:

• What makes a good tweet
• What branders can learn from the technique behind the tweet

(If I were a true Twitter fanatic I could have covered both of these topics in under 140 characters.)

The Art of the Tweet

A good tweet is:

• Short and stweet *er*um* sweet… alright, I’ll stop
• Starts a conversation with the audience
• Uses the right lingo
• Creates community

Short and stweet

Luckily, Twitter puts the cap at 140 characters, but the best tweets are sometimes the shortest, leaving followers asking for more.

Starts a conversation with the audience

When author of “Twitter for Dummies,” Laura Fitton’s daughter had a bad fall in front of her eyes, she resisted the temptation to just rehash the incident on Twitter. Instead, she simply wrote, “What do you do when something really scares you?”

The predominance of individualized social media points to the fact that people don’t just want to be viewers anymore; they want to be participants. So, give them a chance to express their view!

Uses the right lingo

Abbreviations and everyday language (rather than professional jargon) is used to get the point across without “dancing around the bush.” Tweeters can search by subject; so, use the language they use, or else they’ll never come across your tweet!

Also, if your post is a direct response to another tweet, putting an “@” sign in front of their Twitter name will make it pop up on their notifications.

Creates community

Yes, social media has been all the buzz in the marketing community – the Holy Grail. Few marketing professionals dare to question its supreme power… and yet, fewer still understand why it has been so popular.

Understanding how to tweet is vital because it is a successful use of language, and creating a strong brand is all about using language to convey your overall message.

What branders can learn from the technique behind the tweet

So what does Twitter have that Ads don’t?! (and more importantly what can we learn from it as marketers?)

A recent article by Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse instructed readers on the so-called ‘art of the twitterature.’

“Twiterature?!”



But, why does this matter to professionals trying to get their brand recognized?

Perhaps celebrity Ashton Kutcher (boasting a leading 2 million followers) could answer this question where marketers have failed to do so.

More than just your average Joe, Kutcher is also a brand. He depends on brand/name recognition and positive feelings from fans to drive sales of tickets, movies, merchandise, and most recently, Nikon cameras. If he already has nearly 2 million people “following” his every tweet, imagine the kind of brand recognition he enjoys above the competition who are without the following he has.

Let’s cut to the chase.

Today, consumers (especially young consumers) are more cynical than ever about obvious advertising. In the ‘good old days’ of advertising, reaching the audience was much simpler, and let’s face it – some of the advertising that resulted had all the subtlety and finesse of the Coyote’s Acme Co. Rocket.

Consumers are simply not responding to the old and obvious ways of marketing. They’re tired of getting talked at.

They’re demanding:

• Entertain me.
• Talk to me.
• Don’t waste my time.

Virtually every medium of advertising imaginable now has a coinciding technology to block it out. Click. TiVo. Delete. Tweet.

The challenge to branders today is to connect with their audiences in a way which is conversational and engaging.

In this regard, branding professionals may be able to learn something from the short, seemingly trivial posts of Twitter. The kind of conversation across sub-groups which Twitter has so easily created is the same type of conversation branders have been thriving for forever.

The most successful marketers in the future will be those who can take the lessons of Twitter and use them to design creative advertising and PR which does not talk at the audience, but instead, meets them where they are.

Shane Smith Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.