Reasons Why? You Need to Stop Ignoring Twitter:

Why Twitter is Becoming Increasingly Important to Marketers:

There have been many articles written about why to use Twitter, and at IT Bloke we have certainly published well more than our fair share of them.  However, the landscape is constantly changing, at an alarmingly fast rate. New trends, ideas, applications, and features come out, and they further emphasise Twitter's place in said landscape.

As stated above, IT Bloke over the years has published many articles about our favourite little social networking tool, Twitter, http://www.twitter.com and the  Twitterverse.

Following on from this I thought it would actually be slightly more informative to publish actual reasons why it has become increasingly important for marketers, and why it should not be ignored as potentially one of the greatest marketing tools that we now have have in our armoury.

1. Twitter Lists:

Twitter Lists are changing the game. We recently looked at several reasons why, but also consider that with the Lists gadget, your tweets may appear all over the web if you can get onto lists. They will appear on sites and blogs, which are more than likely going to be related to the niche you are in anyway if you have the right audience on Twitter.  Also if done correctly it can be quick and effective way of getting your message out through all the new Social Networking Conduits that are now appearing, (a subject we will be discussing next.)

2. The Openness of Twitter:

The openness of Twitter, social media and the web in general, pretty much means that your messages on Twitter won't be limited to your Twitter audience. Facebook and other social networks will bring tweets in. People will share them, screenshot them, link to them on blogs, etc. Twitter is a means of getting your message out to more people, but it's not necessarily only limited to the people on Twitter that will see those messages, don't buy into the fact that Twitter is limited to Twitter, see our article on: Ignoring Social Media at your Peril: as Toby persistently loves to remind us, "Twitter now has a Twittterverse"

3. Building Valuable Relationships:

Laura Fitton, the author of Twitter for Dummies, chalks up success on Twitter to four basic concepts: listen, learn, care, and serve. Basically, if you listen to the community, you will learn, and if you show that you care, you are more likely to get more out of your efforts. Serving means providing something of use to the community. If you don't know what you're not doing then, you may be setting yourself up to fail.

4. Traffic That Cares:

Twitter can bring you not only random traffic, but traffic from people who are actually passionate about the niche that you are a part of. Retweets are huge in this regard. Guy Kawasaki calls retweeting the sincerest form of flattery. He has a point. He notes that people are willing to risk their reputations by retweeting your content, (or even destroy yours, LOL)

5. Staying Current:

Being found in Twitter searches (not to mention real time search in general, which is starting to become a main area of focus for all of the big search engines, not to mention all of the standalone real-time search sites) provides a lot of opportunity for exposure. We have already discussed this here and gave tips for getting found in real-time searches.

6. Connecting with Local Customers:

There are a variety of ways you can connect with local consumers and customers using Twitter and Twitter-related tools. There are tools like the IT Bloke favourite of  http://journotwit.com/ ), which let you find Twitterers in your area, for example. Another thing to keep an eye on is Google's new Social Search. It's currently just a lab experiment, but could become more. It certainly has potential.

A recent Search Engine Land article made some good points about the potential of local marketing with this tool, which delivers Google search results based on the communities you are a part of. It draws from Google profiles, which include the networks that people are connected to (based on what any person includes in that profile).

7. Going International and Multi-lingual:

Twitter is expanding into more languages. If you thought Twitter was important to marketing already, consider that for most of its existence, it has only been available in a couple of languages. Now it's in Spanish, and many more languages will follow. That's not only going to be huge for international and multi-lingual marketing efforts, it's going to be huge for Twitter's growth, and the more Twitter grows, the more potential customers are out there.

8. It's Still Young:

Consider that Twitter is just getting started in the grand scheme of things. It's still young. There are no doubt going to be a lot more features added in the future. And don't forget about the thousands of Twitter apps that are already out there that can make Twitter useful in different ways to different people and businesses. Take some time and explore them.

I hope that has now given you a few reason why you should not be ignoring Twitter in you upcoming marketing Campaign, here at IT Bloke we have a great deal of hard fought for knowledge on the subject of doing just that, so if you would like any further assistance in using the power of Twitter to enhance you brand our company please do not hesitate to give us a call and start a conversation on the subject, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

Unethical Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies:

Any practice intended to deceive people is unethical and should not be used.

"A Good Word of Mouth Marketing campaign does not use and in essence is absolutely opposed to any of the following unethical word of mouth marketing practices or tactics"





Stealth Marketing: Any practice designed to deceive people about the involvement of marketers in a communication.

Shilling: Paying people to talk about (or promote) a product without disclosing that they are working for the company; impersonating a customer.

Infiltration: Using fake identities in an online discussion to promote a product; taking over a web site, conversation, or live event against the wishes or rules set by the proprietor.

Comment Spam: Using automated software ('bots') to post unrelated or inappropriate comments to blogs or other online communities. 

Defacement: Vandalizing or damaging property to promote a product.

Spam: Sending bulk or unsolicited email or other messages without clear, voluntary permission.

Falsification: Knowingly disseminating false or misleading information.

Word of mouth marketing cannot be faked:
Artificial word of mouth marketing is dishonest and ineffective. Word-of-mouth marketing must be based on the honest opinions of real people. We strongly oppose any practice that tries to fake word of mouth. 

* Ethical and responsible word of mouth marketers do not… 
* Impersonate people, shill, or hide their identities 
* Manipulate or corrupt honest opinions Infiltrate, invade, or violate online or offline venues

Marketers must work to oppose and eliminate unethical practices. 

All marketers should be aware that unethical practices are currently used by unscrupulous or uninformed companies. The standards of ethics and consumer protection are evolving rapidly, and many marketers have not yet learned about the current standards (or choose to ignore them). Regardless of intent, such unethical practices jeopardize consumer trust and ultimately harm both consumers and honest marketers. 

We strongly recommend that all companies aggressively review their practices and always insist on the highest level of ethics, and make sure that all of your campaigns comply with a stringent Code of Conduct and Honesty, if you need a hand developing such strategies for your company or Brand, then please get in contact with us we would be delighted to assist, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London...

Positive Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies:

"Good word of mouth marketing strategies involve finding ways to support satisfied customers and making it easier for them to talk to their friends."





1. Encouraging communications:
* Developing tools to make telling a friend easier 
* Creating forums and feedback tools 
* Working with social networks

2. Giving people something to talk about:
* Information that can be shared or forwarded 
* Advertising, stunts, and other publicity that encourages conversation 
* Working with product development to build WOM elements into products

3. Creating communities and connecting people:
* Creating user groups and fan clubs
* Supporting independent groups that form around your product 
* Hosting discussions and message boards about your products 
* Enabling grassroots organization such as local meetings and other real-world participation

4. Working with influential communities:
* Finding people who are likely to respond to your message 
* Identifying people who are able to influence your target customers
* Informing these individuals about what you do and encouraging them to spread the word 
* Good-faith efforts to support issues and causes that are important to these individuals

5. Creating evangelist or advocate programs:
* Providing recognition and tools to active advocates
* Recruiting new advocates, teaching them about the benefits of your products, and encouraging them to talk about them

6. Researching and listening to customer feedback:
* Tracking online and offline conversations by supporters, detractors, and neutrals
* Listening and responding to both positive and negative conversations

7. Engaging in transparent conversation:
* Encouraging two-way conversations with interested parties
* Creating blogs and other tools to share information
* Participating openly on online blogs and discussions

8. Co-creation and information sharing:
* Involving consumers in marketing and creative (feedback on creative campaigns, allowing them to create commercials, etc.)
* Letting customers 'behind the curtain' to have first access to information and content

Well I hope that has given you a few positive idea's on how to use WOM, if you need any more or some help on how to implement them with you company or brand, please start a conversation with us and we will be glad to assist.  My next post is more on the the Negative, basically a 'What not to do with WOM' and the ethics of WOM, however I will endevour in my usual way to make even this as positive as I can, see you next time, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

WERE BACK:

Welcome back old and new IT Bloke Customers and Readers alike.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience, as we put together and launched this our new Multi-Blog website.

Don't worry we have not changed our ethos in anway,  just our site.  We will still be bringing you our own unique and ubiquitous brand of Gonzo Journalism tailored for the Social Media age that you have all come to know and love.  However now our new Multi-Blog site will allow us to expand on that and also make your life easier as it now has three totally separate Blogs/Sections:

HOME PAGE: which is now totally devoted to all things Word of Mouth {W.O.M.} Marketing.

product reviews and of course championing those less known about concepts, causes,  problems and facts that they don't want us to know about!.

IT BLOKE's: is our totally new section, where we will be blogging about the more leisure and cultural orientated side of being an IT Bloke or Blokette for that matter.

And so,  our dear  friends,  bookworms, most noble fellow drinkers, frustrated burglars, affronted policemen, upright citizens with furled umbrellas and secret buccaneering dreams--that seems to be very nearly all for now. It has been nice having you with us, and we hope you will come again, not once, but many time and once again thank you for your patience, we hope you enjoy reading our new site as much as we have enjoyed making it for you.

Kind Regards & Best Wishes ~ Ashe, Toby & all our  Staff & Gonzo Journalists @ IT Bloke - London.....

Branding With Word Of Mouth Marketing:

Have you implemented Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) as part of your branding plan?

Do you feel that WOMM can help build your brand and bring about brand awareness for your business? Just to explain, brand awareness is how you measure whether your brand or business is easily recognized or springs to mind for your industry.



When you are using WOMM as part of your branding message, it’s key that you understand the basic usage for WOMM.

~

Below is a simple list that can help you with your WOMM implementation:

• Keep it simple. Determine what topics will be shared.


• Find people who can be “announcers” for your brand/business.


• Make sure that you have tools that your “announcers” can use to easily spread the word like Tell-a-friend forms on your website.


• Participate on forums by leaving comments with links back to your website. Ask others to visit your website and participate on your forum also.


• As you implement your WOMM plan, make sure to track your results.

Any how we hope this has given you a few extra idea's when it comes to branding your company, if you want some more ideas, me or Tobz always love to start a further conversations about WOM, so just drop us a line so we can get talking, ~ Regards, Ashe… IT Bloke - London.