twitter marketing


“Like gravity, karma is so basic we don’t even notice it.” – Sakyong Mipham

That little golden rule of treating others how we would want to be treated is a simple yet revolutionary concept in our current era of beating celebrities and politicians to a pulp in blogs. In media and marketing, we stand in line to hop on board the latest bash fest of whatever product or person has made a bad judgment call or seen better days. This little billboard campaign out of Denver made headlines this week for making fun of Domino’s. Domino’s? Really? While it provides some chuckles, the old “kick the big money competitor in the groin” tactic is pretty exhausted at this point. Nevertheless, our current snark-as-default-setting climate got us thinking about using our marketing powers for good. After all, small businesses rely on positive word of mouth and feedback, so shouldn’t we take positive actions to insure good marketing karma?

The road to marketing enlightenment is one paved with little, selfless acts of kindness that over time prove your company has heart, integrity and a good sense of humor. For instant karma in action, take a look at Twitter marketing. On Twitter, by re-tweeting blogs in your same industry, you’re giving props to your comrades while winding up in their newsfeeds. Things like “Follow Friday” and mutual following are other ways to get good Twitter juju. Another great way to perhaps gather more followers is by doing an old-fashioned Twitter shout-out. The shout-out consists of naming an author of a blog or an entrepreneur who has posted something worthy that deserves more than a simple retweet. By name checking folks with big followings, I have found almost immediate retribution wherein the person in question either follows me in return or returns the name-check in a separate tweet. Think of it as tweeting how you would like to be tweeted.

E-mailed newsletters are another outlet to increase your marketing brownie points. Slipping a quick customer questionnaire into your newsletter that in turn offers free goods or discounts is a nice way to reward your readers while gathering their thoughts about your company. It’s another old-fashioned mutual back scratching technique that also builds goodwill.

You also can show that your business gives a damn by providing links to causes and non-profits that are important to you on your website and social media pages. No, we can’t all be Bono — but we can do little things to help out fellow do-gooders. Plus partnerships of this kind are PR gold that almost always yield new customers.

With all of this spreading of happiness around, let’s not forget to have a laugh, either. Infusing (ahem, clean) humor in your Facebook pages, website and blogs is doing a good deed. First off, everybody loves a good laugh. Secondly, posts with humor and the “you gotta see this” factor get forwarded like nobody’s business. This can be in the form of a great video or weird news story — whatever. Have fun with it and your readers will, too.

Now it’s your turn to tell us, gentle readers: How have your acts of kindness helped your business? Enlighten us in the section below (and increase your good comment karma)!

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yogi
Amidst tweets about subjects as varied as cupcakes and miracle underwear, the heavy hitters of self-help have taken to Twitter to get the word out about their seminars, books, audio programs and websites. In fact, given the number of followers folks like Deepak Chopra have, it’s clear even Twitts want to hear something inspirational from time to time. I scanned Twitter to see who has committed to spreading their message in 140 characters or less.

No discussion about self-help would be complete without Shirley MacLaine. The Oscar winner was New Age before New Age was cool and was working The Secret before it was thusly named. So it is no wonder that the sage MacLaine has employed the powers of Twitter to speak to her fans and more…

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chicken

Last month in this very blog, we covered the culinary Godzilla that is KFC’s Double Down. The marketing and buzz for the heart-clogging delight was unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Not to be outdone, everybody’s favorite closed-on-Sunday chicken hut, Chik-Fil-A, has launched an online, full-tilt boogie campaign for its new spicy chicken sandwich.

For being widely considered an old-fashioned, good-family-values kind of fast food chain, Chik-Fil-A knows how to rock online marketing, social media and positive word of mouth. Chik-Fil-A tweets regularly about more…

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tweet_cannes

Weary film festival junkies are finally at the halfway mark in Cannes. But much like the parties on yachts, the marketing through social media at Cannes never stops.

Not one to miss an opportunity where booze and celebrities are so warmly welcomed, beer brewing company Stella Artois has launched a series of black and white films featuring the suave King of Cannes, Jacques D’Azur. In the films, the King of Cannes may be ruling in more…

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mothersday

Regardless of what Glenn Beck says, people still love Mother’s Day. Folks are finding all kinds of ways to use social media to tell mom that they love her, and marketers couldn’t be happier.

Love or loathe E-Trade’s talking baby campaign, its hard to argue with how memorable the little buggers are. As featured in USA Today, E-Trade is rolling out widgets that more…

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twochickens

It was the gastric gut bomb heard ’round the world when Kentucky Fried Chicken unleashed The Double Down Sandwich a few weeks back. This culinary concoction made of two fried chicken breasts serving as a bun with melted cheese and two strips of crispy bacon, created a marketing frenzy and set off a blogging firestorm unlike any fast food product we’ve seen in quite some time. At nearly 600 grams of more…

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This week’s Brandsplat Video report  covers Twitter Advertising, the amazing taste of Sabra Hummus and a very expensive Drunk Driving Campaign. Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

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shock

Ball of confusion, that’s what the world is today. Hey. Hey.”   - The Temptations.

The new health care package, the lady from eBay who wants to be governor, the gravity defying awesomeness that is Justin Bieber’s hair are all things I really do not understand. In fact, at the risk of sounding like Ed Anger or Andy Rooney, there’s a bunch of things I don’t understand.  So thank God for the more…

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tweety_in_twobble
Once upon a time in a faraway land I like to call “The Early 1980s,” when a celebrity’s career had reached the end of the road, there were a few avenues open to them if they wished to remain in the spotlight. There were game shows like “$25,000 Pyramid,” or selling exercise equipment, or being a guest star on “Murder She Wrote.” Other than that, the prospects of hanging onto fame were slim to none.
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cheer

I think it’s time for a bloggervention. Your company’s blog gets zero hits, illicits little response and seems to collect dust as it sits there online just waiting for readers to show up. The countless articles that say youngsters don’t blog anymore don’t exactly more…

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