Twitter Paper 498

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Twitter: A Case Study Of Best Practices 1

Running head: A Case Study of Best Public Relations and Marketing Practices on Twitter

Twitter: A Case Study of Best Practices

Sergio Castaneda

Communication 498

University Of Illinois at Chicago

Spring 2010

Introduction




Twitter has become an undeniably important facet of communication in the current

digital age. Since its inception many people have used Twitter as a means to communicate with

friends, people and companies from across the world. Interestingly, Twitter lends itself to

multiple forms of communication. Besides the aforementioned forms of interpersonal

communication, Twitter also serves as a platform for mass communication. Celebrities,

companies and other public entities have seen Twitter’s potential as a form of disseminating

information to a mass audience simultaneously. Because of its ease of use and growing level of

popularity, Twitter has become an important outlet for public relations practitioners as a way of

reaching and connecting with their publics. It is estimated that one in five internet users are now

on Twitter (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2009). Along the same vein of newspapers,

radio and television, Twitter has now become an avenue for sharing information on a mass level

for many people. The purpose of this case study is to explore ways in which this is happening.

There are two main underlying motivations for this case study. From a personal

standpoint, I want to further explore the way that public relations and marketing operate in a

digital media landscape. As a potential career path, I want to be able to study the practical

aspects of this field as it is happening today. This in turn will help me further advance my

understanding of public relations as a career. At the same time, this would allow me to present

my case study as a way of showing a working understanding of this practice to potential

employers. Furthermore, this case study contributes to the scholarly literature about public

relations in the 21 st century. This topic is applicable to the communication research because

Twitter is a form of new media and thus has an ongoing importance in our field.

An important starting point for creating discussion about the Twitter phenomenon is by

examining Twitter’s impact today. A report by The Hubspot organization entitled “State of the

Twittersphere”, (2010) specifically analyzes Twitter’s users and how they utilize the service. As




of January 2010 Twitter had approximately 5 million users. The report states that while Twitter’s

growth has slowed in the recent months, the users that remain are more dedicated and avid users

of the service. This slowing rate of growth would indicate that Twitter’s diffusion as a

technology is approaching the “Late-Majority—Laggards” phase, according to Everett Rogers

theory of how new technology spreads. This point would seem to be corroborated by the report’s

assertion that many of Twitter’s 5 million users have now become more engaged and involved

with the service. Additionally a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (2009)

found that the median age of Twitter users is 31. This gives interesting insight into the potential

of Twitter. Most Twitter users are adults who are at a point where they have a stable job and high

amounts of disposable income. Twitter provides an underlying and untapped market audience for

companies who can reach this purchasing power in a new way.

Other entities have noticed Twitter’s potential. Late last year, Google announced that

they would begin to index tweets into their search engine results. (Google Blog, 2009). This

resurgence of attention on Twitter proves its importance as a communication tool on the internet.

Users who search for corporations’ names and related keywords on Google will now be exposed

to their tweets. This creates a potential new audience for these companies. Their impact of their

tweets is now more significant than ever and the way that they attempt to connect with their

audiences on Twitter merits further examination.

Literature Review

As a rather recent emergence in the field of communication research, there is not a great

deal of previous study on Twitter. The few studies and research that have previously examined

Twitter are somewhat limited in their results because there are few other studies to compare them




to. The uses and effects of Twitter are still not completely figured out and adapted by the

population at large. This project aims to be a more practical examination of the ways that Twitter

is being used today. This required focusing the background research for this project on a more

practical examination of the way that Twitter is used as opposed to a more an academic focus. In

order to better examine and understand the effects of Twitter, I decided to expand my

background research to broader advertising, marketing and social media literature that has been

previously studied and well-established. In addition to this I also looked at some other literature

by media scholars regarding the Twitter phenomenon.

Overarching Categorizations of Twitter Users

A study by Java et al entitled “Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage

and Communities” (2007) offered another introspective look at Twitter users. Similarly to the

Hubspot report, their project provided a number of characteristics and trends about Twitter users.

Their study focused mainly on the everyday Twitter user (as opposed to corporations and

entities). However, their findings on user intentions and user categorizations (pp. 7-8) are related

to this case study. The findings of Java et al suggest that Twitter users’ utilize the service with

four main intentions in mind: daily chatter, conversations, sharing information or URLs and

reporting news. These users can be further categorized by their use of the service. The four main

user categories of Twitter users are: information source, friends and information seekers (pp. 7-

8). With the exception of information seeker (a category marked by rare updates), it is likely that

most companies fall within one of those categories. Information seeker is unlikely given the fact

that many companies intentionally use Twitter to communicate with their audiences. If

companies want to connect with their publics they do so by building an online presence. An

inactive Twitter feed is unappealing for most people and shows disconnect between the user and

the medium. The other categories and user intentions will most likely be seen in the Twitter users




I will examine. All of them represent the cornerstones of what Twitter is about. Thus companies

that understand their audience and adapt their Twitter account to connect with that audience will

most likely encompass one of these broad categories.

New Forms of Marketing in the Web 2.0 Era

At the start of the last decade, many communication scholars realized that the internet

would create a groundbreaking change in the way that we live. Many books were written that

promised to change the way that marketing itself would take place. In 2001, Seth Godin, a

marketing scholar wrote a book titled Unleashing The Ideavirus . Despite being written a few

years before the emergence of Twitter, this book presented compelling marketing ideas that can

be applied to way that companies use Twitter today. In essence he discusses how ideas, which

can come in the form of products, songs are the currency of the future (pp. 24). It is important to

recognize this because “Today there are more early adopters than ever before” (pp. 42). In other

words people want products that are appealing and important to them. Today there is too much

noise and crowding in the marketplace of ideas. This means that when something truly

revolutionary emerges, more people are more likely to adopt it. “The time that it takes for an idea

to circulate is approaching zero” (pp. 24). It is important to note that the emergence of Twitter is

not an isolated occurrence. Twitter combines the ideas of blogs and status updates from social

networking sites and packages these two concepts within a 140 character limit post. Thus

referring to older literature on online networking and applying the same concepts to Twitter

shows how these phenomena build upon each other. With instant and mobile communication

tools like Facebook and Twitter gaining extensive notoriety proves that Godin’s predictions were

in fact extremely accurate.




Beyond that, there are special considerations that have to be applied as marketers and

advertisers adapt to the changes that technology is bringing to their field. More and more we are

seeing a trend where traditional advertising it losing its effectiveness. As Godin states in another

of his books, Free Prize Inside (2004), “Just because you have money doesn’t mean you can

trade it for attention by buying advertising. Consumers have learned how to ignore (traditional

advertising)”. (pp. 6). Once again, Twitter provides a viable alternative to overcome this hurdle.

Because users of Twitter seek out the sources that are of special interest to them, it means that

advertisers already have some of their attention through this avenue. Finding and obtaining the

best practices to connect with consumers becomes the question as we continue to expand our

presence in this online field. Specifically figuring out how to adapt the notion of the free prize

and adapting that with a marketing and public relations strategy which will make consumers

happy, while at the same time making a company profitable.

Seth Godin’s books provide a practical understanding of how to use marketing combined

with newly emerging forms of social media. Given that many companies have large followings

on Twitter, using this form of communication effectively makes Twitter a mass communication

outlet. Moving on from Seth Godin’s broad discussion of marketing in this new age, we come to

Kaye Sweetser who has published more recent literature about regarding to harness the power of

Twitter to reach audiences. In her blog, So This Is Mass Communication , she details ingenious

concepts of how use Twitter and other forms of social media. Combining her conclusions with

Godin’s ideas create a starting point for creating a practical understanding for the best uses of

Twitter.

Twitter-specific Best Practices and Suggestions




There are some scholars who have started to figure out the best ways in which entities

should use Twitter for creating optimal relationships between companies and their publics. In a

post titled “Twitter Best Practices” (posted September 1, 2009) Kaye Sweetser discusses

practical guidelines for companies to keep in mind when they are posting on Twitter. In essence

her guidelines boil down to simple tips that companies should keep in mind for ease of use and

identification, simplicity, recognition and approachability. When companies use Twitter as a

form of public relations they should keep in mind the characteristics that make Twitter so

appealing for users in the first place. Since users are able to choose whether they want to get

exposed to the companies’ messages they can just as easily choose to ignore them or un-follow

them. Therefore, maintaining a human and approachable quality to Tweets is quite possibly the

most important advice to keep in mind. Doing so will get customers to pay attention and even

trust the companies as they post tweets. Although, customers are tuning out traditional forms of

advertisements, using Twitter as a way of providing them with information applicable to their

needs companies can ensure that customers keep them in mind when it they need a service.

Some other important reminders that she states are simple but effective. For example

using the company’s logo as a default picture. Having a user name that is reflective of the

company, which in turn would make their posts more likely to be re-tweeted and linked. Twitter

should become a medium for fostering direct interaction between companies and their publics.

Therefore when companies go on Twitter, they should make an effort to respond to comments,

post continually and keep their Tweets relevant to their companies and their consumers. Another

important consideration to keep in mind is to use Twitter for posting links. This helps the

company’s website gain search optimization. As an added incentive, links that get tweeted

automatically get turned into bit.ly links, which allows the sender to keep track of how those

links spread throughout the internet.




This is some of the literature that is available for analyzing Twitter as a marketing and

public relations tool. By connecting the broad ideas from Seth Godin with the practical and

contemporary tips of Kaye Sweetser, a broader understanding for the Twitter phenomenon is

possible. Twitter is a multi-faceted social networking site. Although marketing is not its primary

component, Twitter has proved to be a beneficial avenue to pursue when people are trying to

reach consumers. The focus of this paper now turns to examining how five different companies

use Twitter and whether and how they adapt to the previously discussed ideas and literature.

Methods

For a period of two weeks I followed five popular entities on Twitter: CNN, Microsoft,

Flat Top Grill, Barack Obama and Zappos. I picked these five specific corporations and entities

in order to gather a diverse sample of Twitter uses based on size, type of service and

interpersonal interactions. Three of these entities are in the list of Top 200 Twitter users,

(according to Twitterholic.com). Microsoft and Flat Top Grill have smaller but dedicated fan

bases. I followed them before this case study thus their use of Twitter seemed interesting enough

to further study and analyze. Their Twitter follower bases are varied but relatively large (ranging

from 56,000 to 3 million followers). During this two-week time period I examined the content of

their tweets and what other information they contained. This included but was not limited to:

links (to their own website or another), hashtags, company information (trivia, or news release),

sales pitches or answers to customers’ questions or concerns, or other direct customer

interaction. These observations were tracked on a spreadsheet (a total of five, one per account,

see Appendix).

Results & Discussion




All five Tweeter feeds were tracked for of two-week period, spanning late January

through mid February 2010. During that time, six observation categories were the main tracking

points for compiling data. These categories were all applicable to Twitter and other social media

outlets, with a couple that were Twitter-specific. These included:

• A link in the message (tweet), and whether this link directed the user to the

entity’s website or another.

• A hashtag included in the tweet.

• Information related to the entity (in the form of trivia or a news release)

•

Tweet was an advertisement or solicitation for a sale.• Tweet was a re-tweet, or did it include any other @ mentions

• Direct forms of interactions with their publics (re-tweets, answering questions, or

any other mentions).

I will now discuss each individual Twitterer and the trends and patters observed regarding their

use of Twitter.

CNN (@CNN)

Significant findings:

• Links to their own website: 96% of tweets.

• Links to external websites: 3% of tweets.

• Re-tweets (other CNN sources on Twitter): 21%

• User Intent Category: Sharing information/URLs and reporting news

• User Category: information source




CNN has a fairly active Twitter feed. The vast majority of their tweets were headlines of

important or noteworthy news stories. Along with a small blurb of the topic of the story, 96% of

tweets included a link that re-directs the viewer to their website to read the full story. Some of

their Tweets also linked to their blogs (again found on CNN.com). The few re-tweets that this

feed had (21% of all tweets from sample) were usually from another one of CNN’s accounts, or

from their correspondents. Not surprisingly CNN wants to stick with their own vast network and

array of news outlets. This small-scale synergy is manifested on their Twitter feeds and it is a

clear attempt by CNN to drive traffic to their website. The way that CNN is using Twitter goes

directly with the same advice that Kaye Sweetser discussed. By keeping their Tweets short and

simple CNN ensures that their content is easily spread and shared throughout Twitter. This

means that some of their followers (almost one million) will be compelled to click on their links

and visit their website. Beyond this, it is possible that the many more users who will see the re-

tweets and @ mentions also become potential site visitors.

Based on my observations it seems that CNN uses their Twitter outlets as a gateway for

their website. In many ways the manner in which they use their headlines on Twitter is akin to

headlines on a newspaper. They are meant to draw people in and entice them to read the entire

article. Given that CNN’s main outlet is their cable channel, it would seem like their use of

Twitter should be part of a strategy to maintain or increase their viewership. An area of concern

with this feed is their constant updates. I counted up to ten Tweets in one day. This is somewhat

concerning in terms of how many people are actually paying attention to the constant Tweets and

how many people are ignoring their status updates because there is simply too many of them. It

could be possible that CNN is hoping to attract the right viewer at the right time with the right

news story. However CNN does not seem to make an effort to use Twitter as an interpersonal

communication platform. Instead they rely on it more as a portal. Given their large follower base,




every time they post a news item it becomes a potential way to start conversations. CNN has not

yet adopted Twitter for this purpose. Used right, this practice could allow CNN to interact with

their audience directly. Based on their popularity and reputation interacting with people one on

one when it comes to the news could be an innovative avenue of interaction that CNN could

pursue. Twitter users to continue that conversation and spread their content for many more users

to see their content seems to be effective. Despite of this, CNN’s dual approach of driving traffic

to their website by communicating the day’s stories allows CNN to continue to be an important

news source for people in this Web 2.0 platform.

Microsoft (@Microsoft)


• Links to own website: 63% of tweets

• Links to external websites: 36% of tweets

• News releases: 27% of tweets

•

Trivia about company: 12% of tweets• User Intent Category: Sharing information/URLs and some reporting news

• User Category: Information Source

Microsoft also has a highly active Twitter feed. Their Tweets are a mix of trivia, practical

information for Windows users and occasional news releases (36% based on sample). Like CNN,

their Tweets were mostly headlines with an added link to a full article or blog posting. The vast

majority of links (63%) were to a Microsoft-related blog (blogs varied from a broad company

blog, to a specialized blog linked to their search engine Bing). Twitter served as a form of

gatekeeping, Microsoft uses Twitter to drive people to their website to show them certain

information. In addition, they also posted to other content not created by Microsoft. Most of this




content usually was usually related to other companies and organizations complementing

Microsoft and their products. Another unexpected but positive find from their feed was that

Microsoft would sometimes post information to free software upgrades (this was recorded as

“news releases” for tracking: 27% of tweets). This harks back to Godin’s notion of the “free

prize inside”, Microsoft is looking to provide additional value for their users by giving them free

things. This value is not limited to the free things that they give away but in the way that they do

so. Users who do not have PowerPoint will see upgrades like this and thus see an intrinsic value.

This link not only provided a download, but also showed some examples of the ways that people

could use their new backgrounds in PowerPoint. It would seem as though Microsoft’s strategy is

to garner and maintain users by giving them an occasional free upgrade. By providing them with

practical examples on how to use their freebie, it is likely that their efforts are focused on

creating and keeping customer loyalty. Thus they will continue to buy their software as opposed

to switching to other alternatives.

Microsoft’s Twitter feed main goal is to show Windows users why their operating system

is the best and what they can do with it. It seems that an area that this feed lacks in is attracting

potential new customers. For example, a good thing for them to do would be to link to Microsoft

fan blogs and foster a discussion of why Windows is a better operating system than their

competitors. If they were to take an initiative to link to other content besides their own, it would

make their Twitter presence much more human and approachable. This approach could be a

potential way to spark conversations about Microsoft and keep their name continually appearing

in Twitter. Instead of shying away from debate and taking a stab at their competitors, Microsoft

should take a more proactive step in joining the debate of Windows versus Apple. Beyond this,

their interpersonal customer interactions on Twitter were surprisingly lacking, none of their

tweets were interpersonal interactions. They strayed away from connecting with their consumers




on a direct basis. Unlike the Twitter feeds of other corporations, which engage and connect with

people directly, Microsoft uses their feed mainly to showcase content. Increasing interactions

like these would help Microsoft’s presence on Twitter, and it would allow them to be perceived

as a more amicable and engaging Twitter user.

Flat Top Grill (@ flattopgrill )


• Interpersonal interactions: 86% of tweets

• Links to own site: 7% of tweets

• News Releases: 14% of tweets

• User Intent Category: Conversations and some sharing information/URLs

• User Category: Friends

Unlike Microsoft, the Twitter feed of Flat Top Grill is highly active in terms of direct

engagement with customers. Almost all of their tweets were direct interactions with customers or

their conversations about Flat Top on Twitter. A contributing factor of this might be that their

Twitter follower base is the smallest out of the five samples for this case study. One notable

tweet from my observations was their response to a customer’s question regarding whether they

offered coupons. Their response was an explanation about their birthday club, which provides a

free meal on the customers’ birthday and a link for them to sign up for it. This is a perfect

example of Twitter’s dual functions as a communication tool. It not only serves as a method of

interpersonal communication between companies and their publics individually, but also as a

form of mass communication. They engage their customers by giving the original user an answer

to their question and their entire follower base by showing why their company provides them a




good value. By re-tweeting questions from their customers they not only answer their questions,

but they answer the same questions that many other customers may have had.

Beyond this their Twitter feed was mostly directed to interaction with their customers.

They asked some broad participatory questions (“What are your favorite sauces?”). They also

had plenty of re-tweeting tweets that had praises on their restaurants and food. A couple of their

tweets were also answering a few customers’ questions as well as giving birthday wishes to

customers. Overall, Flat Top is making great strides in enabling their use of Twitter as a way for

furthering conversations. Their Twitter feed acts as a catalyst for this; their constant re-tweeting

of praises and interaction with their followers make them seem less like a business and instead as

more personable and direct. They use Twitter as a way of spreading word-of-mouth advertising.

Their public relations strategy relies on having their own customers do the marketing for them

and their use of Twitter is an excellent avenue for them to do so. By publishing praises and good

feedback from the average user Flat Top’s quality is verified by regular users and not through

advertisements. This in turns makes a better and more effective form of advertisement.

Barack Obama (@ BarackObama )


• Links to own website: 70% of tweets

• Use of hashtags: 50% of tweets

• Addressing users with a call to action: 10% of tweets

• User Intent Category: Sharing information/URLs, some reporting news

• User Category: Information Source




As an excellent catalyst for spreading word-of-mouth advertising, Twitter has certain

tools that enable their users to categorize and group popular topics based on common interests.

These tools make the spread and reach of certain topics to be more thorough. This is the case

with trending topics, which are topics on Twitter that are highly visible, popular and easily

searchable. An entity that commonly uses trending topics and hashtags on Twitter is the

President’s Twitter feed. Obama’s reach and influence are of course enormous and widespread.

His Twitter feed (with over 3 million followers) has to publish content that is applicable to a

mass audience. The time span of my observations ranged from the tail end of the State of the

Union discussion and into health care reform and a Democrat party convention. These topics

were identified with a hashtag that was already part of the conversations that going on at Twitter

during that time. The State of the Union was labeled as #SOTU, healthcare as #HCR, and

#HDNC10 for the Democrats’ convention. Overall, half of the tweets recorded included

hashtags. By using hashtags this very popular feed ensured that the ensuing re-tweets would help

these hashtags gain popularity or even trending topic status. At the same time the President’s

tweets also entered the repository of tweets related to the same topic. This compiled with a

strong follower base ensured that the President’s tweets resonated and fostered public discussion

on these issues throughout the Twittersphere.

Re-tweets and @ mentions were relatively scarce. The one @ mention recorded was a re-

tweet of a high ranking military official who supported the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Policy”. For the most part, Obama’s Twitter feed was a mobilization and engagement tool

between Obama and his followers. 70% of tweets contained links back to the President’s website

or to the White House website. Some tweets (10%) asked the user to do something (volunteer

work hours for healthcare reform, call state representatives). It is interesting to note that the

imagined viewer of these Tweets is assumed to be an Obama fan and thus they will do what is




asked of them to help further Obama’s agenda. Tweets contained keywords (we, our, future, act)

that emphasized the fact that it should be a joint effort. While the President fights hard in

Washington, representing his constituents, they should join in the fight and do their part to foster

change at home. From a personal observation, these efforts seem to pay off. Obama’s supporters

usually respond in great numbers when their help is requested. It is not uncommon to see the

goals set by Obama’s campaign being surpassed beyond expectations.

Zappos (@ Zappos )


• No direct customer engagement

• No sales pitches

• Zero links to own website

• User Intent Category: Daily chatter, some reporting news

• User Category: Friends, possibly information seeker

The Twitter feed of Zappos truly demonstrates an understanding and adaptation of the

mantra that customers are tired of traditional forms of advertisements. Although Zappos hosts a

collection of Twitter feeds from their employees, I focused on their main one. It is interesting to

see such a large follower base, (over one million users) that follows the CEO of the company.

With a host of rather sporadic updates (17 over a two week period) and no direct sales pitches,

Zappos’s marketing and PR strategy on Twitter is puzzling to say the least. The closes Tweet

that could resemble a marketing ploy would be one where they mentioned that the website had

been recently redesigned. However, instead of linking to the new website, they included a

Twitpic that showed a humorous funeral for the old website. Beyond this, there is not much else

in terms of specific or explicit marketing. The tweets usually consist of quotes, personal updates




way that they connect with their customers and connecting that to previously established

marketing techniques I was able to see how major entities thrive on Twitter. Twitter is a perfect

example of interacting with people online who are now part of a groundswell. The groundswell

is the new movement that shows that “people on the internet are in charge” (Li and Bernoff,

2008). People coming together online “…moving together on the Internet for a moment in time

(create) an irresistible, ineradicable groundswell” (pp. 6). This means increased impact in

demanding what they want and allowing them to express their opinions freely. This in turn

enables a democracy where they majority rules and entities are held accountable by their publics.

Twitter is a perfect avenue for this process.

Moving forward these observations will serve as a model for proposing public relations

and marketing strategies to potential employers and as a way to craft my approach once I begin

working in this field. This framework will allow me to further understand other companies and

corporations that I follow on Twitter on a personal basis, as a way of analyzing and observing

how they work with their Twitter feed. From a scholarly perspective it is interesting to see the

way that entities online continue to understand and communicate with their publics. This

platform increases the way that mass communication can take place. Communication scholars

should continue to study this as a way to understand and synthesize the uses of Twitter. The

benefits of creating and completing this case study will benefit me beyond this project. This

would make me a better candidate as I go out into the workforce and search for Social Media and

public relations jobs. At the same time allowing me to recognize how corporations reach their

consumers in the Web 2.0 era.




Works Cited

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_id=6C747837133C4A54A4D0351E2683478B&_z=z>.

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Appendix




.

Observation # Date Links (Own

website/External

website)

Hashtags? Company

info?

(Trvia/News

Release)

Sales

Pitch?

@

mentions

Interpersonal

interactions (Q

and A’s, Reponse

Re-tweet, Other

Twitter Paper 498

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