Does Twitter serve my marketing strategy?

On March 21st, Twitter celebrated its 17th anniversary, following a controversial year and the new direction of Elon Musk. The platform elicits both love and hate from its users, as well as concerns from advertisers and brands. The question remains: how can we determine if Twitter is an essential channel for our marketing strategy?

This is the question being asked by Good Rebels, clarifying that an essential channel is one that serves a unique purpose that cannot be easily substituted by another platform.

When is it appropriate for a brand to have a presence on Twitter?

Although the use of this social network is heavily segmented by audience, interests, and generations, the majority of users are between the ages of 32 and 45. However, it should be noted that of those who have used Twitter in the last month, half are between the ages of 18 and 24.

Furthermore, Twitter remains the main channel for customers to voice complaints to brands. Although this trend is declining, it is still important to note that the general expectation of brands providing personalized attention to users has decreased, and users are now turning to private messages on Instagram.

Finally, what characterizes Twitter is its real-time nature. It is no coincidence that sports, TV, politics, and music are the main themes around which conversation is generated on the microblogging platform, as they respond to immediacy and the dissemination of events.

Therefore, Twitter is useful for a brand when its audience is present on the platform, when it can commit to personalized contact with each customer, and when it belongs to the world of what is happening now. The effort and investment must be justified by the value we can receive.

What is happening with Twitter?

When used correctly, Twitter remains a valuable tool due to its ability to generate conversation with the public and its permeability to other media. However, recent events related to Elon Musk's arrival at the decision-making table may worry companies and advertisers.

In just six months, Twitter has made several changes:

• Allowing for the editing of already-published tweets
• Ceasing to apply the policy of misleading information about COVID-19
• Implementing Twitter Blue (a paid service) and gold verification badges for companies and gray badges for governments and multilateral accounts
• Increasing the text limit from 280 to 4,000 characters
• Prohibiting the inclusion of links to other social media platforms

If Twitter continues to loosen its rules, it could become a fertile ground for fake news and hate speech, warn Rockcontent. It is important to consider that having a presence on this platform can have harmful consequences.