Twitter: The Innovation Business Needed, Part Two

Part 2 of a 5-part series

Last post, I talked about how Twitter has evolved from a fun application used to interact with friends to a social media phenomenon that has transformed B2B and B2C communication. Whether it's to promote a new product, reveal a new idea in an enlightening way or respond and interact with consumers, 93 percent of marketers are now inhibiting Twitter for a multitude of reasons. I highlighted three reasons why I use Twitter the most often and why marketers should too in part one. Now, I will explain why 140 characters worth of information has never been bigger.

A giant group text message with friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, small businesses, political figures, celebrities, sports teams, professional athletes, major corporations, and so much more, all sharing one thing in common: they are communicating their most important words, thoughts and information, to us. If we go online or open up the application on our phones and begin writing a tweet, it has to be important, right? Whether it's a thought, joke, statistic, quote or a link, it has significance because we took the time to write and share it with the world.

Have you ever looked at Twitter like this? Isn't that why we like it so much? We feel connected to parts of the world we could never feel connected to otherwise. We feel heard because our messages have the potential to be seen by thousands, even millions of people.

But why is this important for business? Three reasons:

• It allows you to know your audience. When you look through individual timelines of consumers, clientele and other business, you can often feel like you know the user without ever meeting or interacting with them. For a marketer, this is like a sixth sense. Consumers and businesses are giving you an insight into their thoughts and feelings which means you have an advantage when it comes time to form messages, goals, objectives and content. 

• We are now a world that relates easier to short-and-sweet messages rather than long, in-depth conversation. Have you ever seen a catchy tweet by a big brand? Below reveals a great example of a tweet made by DiGiorno Pizza during the 2014 Super Bowl that engaged thousands of fans because of their ability to relate and process the information in an easy way.  

• Being limited to 140 characters of information forces you to form meaningful messages. Because brands are limited in their content, their two-way communication must be powerful and summarized into short phrases. If consumers cannot relate or feel impacted by the messages revealed through Twitter, they will lose interest. Intrigue your audience with appealing content they can relate to and you'll begin to see a return on investment through responses, retweets, favorites and word-of-mouth. 

Part three will highlight the reasons why Twitter's clear and concise interface with minimized distractions help consumers retain the most important information and why this is useful for businesses. Stay tuned.   

Part One
Part Two    

Twitter: The Innovation Business Needed

Part 1 of a 5-part series

Four years ago I made my first tweet, unaware the action I just made would not only change my world, but the world of communication, business and the lives of people everywhere--forever. In 140 characters or less you could communicate to anyone in the world what you were doing, watching, participating in or just your interests. Little did I know this vast form of communication would spark a social phenomenon and change not only the look of communication, but all of its functions.

I started using Twitter to simply feel connected to other people and make my actions and thoughts known. It started as a game and a way to communicate with multiple people at the same time, mostly through humor. I only followed high school friends and a few celebrities. There weren't sports team pages or nearly as many businesses as there are today to interact and stay updated with. Nearly four years ago, 140 million tweets were being published on a daily basis as of March 2011. That number has significantly grown to nearly half of a billion tweets published daily; over 5,700 tweets per second. Those numbers are fascinating to me and put into perspective the growth of Twitter as social tool. 

The question I asked myself is "Why has Twitter grown so fast and when will it fall off?"

Another amazing innovation could take the place of Twitter, but I do not see this happening in the near future. For a long time we will see Twitter not only grow in its' users, but in its' content and functions. The more important part of the question is why has Twitter grown so fast? When I think about the answer, only one word repeatedly comes to mind: Business. 

Twitter is no longer a social hub for teenagers and young adults to use as a funny chat tool with their friends. Its’ world has changed to a network of marketers and businesses who are promoting their content, services and products to the audiences their research reveals most interested. It's easy to notice too; take a scroll through your timeline and look at all the links that are being posted which take you directly to products or services in some way, shape or form. In 2013 Work Smart reported that 93 percent of marketers were using some form of social media, Twitter being one of the most popular platforms. Today I am sure that percentage has risen given how important social media has become to major corporations. 

But why am I only talking about Twitter? Although I analyze and use Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media platforms on a daily basis, Twitter has always been the standout I go to for three specific reasons: 

• 140 characters of information. Our world has become so used to instantaneous connection that we have become impatient. We want information in its simplest and sweetest form; Twitter forces that.   

• Minimal distractions. I don’t know about you but when I go onto Facebook and see everything that’s happening, it can be distracting and confusing. Between the messenger list, all the tabs and the advertisements, you can be diverted from the material you went to Facebook to see in the first place. I don’t see this problem with Twitter because it directs your attention to the heart of the content without all the fluff.  

• The infamous “hashtag". Let’s give credit where credit is due. Twitter is the originator of arguably one of the greatest ways of connecting others to information through “hash-tagging”. In fact, Twitter would not be what it is today without that one specific innovation.

Part two will express the importance of 140 characters and how it has changed the way we communicate through the world of Twitter. Stay tuned.   

Part One
Part Two