Twitter & Advertising

Something that I've realized this week is that a vast majority of my favorite tweeters are actually companies. So how is it that I can hate commercials so much, but can't get enough of advertisements in the form of 140 characters or less?

Simplicity. No fancy thrills or sexy, seductive models, straight-to-the-point text works for me (and a lot of other people too). Sure those flashy Sephora e-mails are full of millions of products I'd like but one simple tweet about free shipping actually brings in a sale.

Other companies like sports teams are equally effective. It's always nice to see a quick reminder from my beloved Bruins letting me know that they've released more tickets at student prices and even nicer to see that Blake Wheeler uses the account so I get the sense the players are real and that they care about the fans.

I myself am constantly trying to come up with new ways to use Twitter to connect to fans for my internship. We advertise sales, tweet about current merchandise, and post trendy fashion stories. It may sounds pretty simple, but it's hard work! Looking for news that is relevant and important is hard, narrowing down stories worth reading or that are likely to be read are also difficult. Something I find even stranger is that with an application that's all about being concise, for a company that's even more important. If I want our followers to retweet and comment, I need to make sure that tweets are less than 100 characters to allow for this.

But when done well, this hard work pays off. In fact, our tweets about our Black Friday sales were a huge hit and over the last few months we've done a great job of building our brand. For a second hand designer store, we're making a name for ourselves as a fashion expert- up on all the latest trends. This isn't a store for clothes that no one wanted, it's a mecca for bargain hunting fashionistas, and thanks to Twitter, we're getting the word out.

Meanwhile, my own wallet is falling for all of it- makeup, sports tickets, clothing, half-price burritos- I'm buying it all. In a world where everyone is talking about tight budgets at Christmas, advertisers need to be creative. And they certainly are. In 140 characters or less at that.