Conversation About Conversations
Short-sighted corporate type #1: “Hey Bruce, you heard of that Twatter thing?”
Short-slighted corporate type #2: “Oh yea some of the new grads have been talking about it, I think it’s called Twitter.”
#1: “Whatever. Apparently some companies are using it to advertise.”
#2: “Really, how much does it cost?”
#1: “It doesn’t cost anything, that’s the best part.”
#2: “So we can use the Twitter to advertise for free?”
#1: “Yea sounds bloody great doesn’t it?”
#2: “Sounds fantastic, how do we use it?”
#1: “Well everyone is using the internet for everything these days so we just run one of our usual boring sales that we normally advertise on T.V, but now we can tell everyone about it on Twitter. They’ll love it because we are such a big important company…We’ll save thousands!”
#2: “Bruce this could be huge…. We can just constantly interrupt people now. Our ads will be everywhere, sales will go through the roof!”
#1 & #2: Pat each other on the back. “We will get a raise out of this”
Hopefully this type of conversation doesn’t take place around the marketing executive water cooler, but it is fathomable when you see how some companies use social media. I’m referring to the select few that see Twitter (and other online platforms) as a cheap way to cling to their current advertising model.
Over the next couple of weeks I will be attempting to start conversations with New Zealand businesses that have entered the Twittersphere. The purpose is to find who is engaging with their followers, who is taking steps in the right direction, and who has missed the point completely. Watch this space for the results of the first annual iThnk.com“Fail Whale Awards”…