Twitter launches Moments to bring you ‘the best of Twitter, in an instant’

Twitter

If you’re in the UK, you might have logged on to the desktop site, iOS or Android Twitter app and noticed a new lightning bolt tab appear in between Home and Notifications.

Hello Twitter Moments.

Having already been launched in the US and Brazil, Twitter Moments is a collection of lists featuring live feeds on news, sport and entertainment. Bringing together images, videos and related Tweets in an easy-to-read format and curated with the help of some of Twitter’s 18 production partners, Moments aims to use this format to attract more users and help current ones keep abreast of breaking stories, live sports coverage and trending topics.

What does this mean for digital marketing?

Twitter Moments is not just for those wanting the latest news but can also serve as a useful tool for brands and marketing companies, too.

Twitter VP of Sales, Matt Derella, said the launch of Twitter Moments will “provide a canvas for brands to move people and shift their hearts and minds”.

How does Twitter Moments plan to do this?

When using Moments, users can clearly scroll through all related Tweets, even if they aren’t following a particular account, making it possible for brands to potentially reach a larger audience than they previously would. Indeed, Mad Marketer explains that “real time marketing has been extremely effective on social media. However, if you’re not following a brand you may never see their post…. Moments would amplify the viral potential of certain posts while expanding the value of Twitter to marketers”. This is potentially big news when you consider the fact that there are over 15 million active Twitter users in the UK alone.

In addition, Twitter will soon launch Promoted Moments, which will allow brands to pay for their very own Moment to appear for 24 hours.

So what can you do as a brand? We suggest you brush up on your social media skills to maximise engagement which will help ensure your brand is up-to-date and relevant and ready for its Moment in the spotlight!

What I’ve learned as an Intern

Before I started as an intern, I thought that the main use of social media was to reconnect with old friends, keep up to date with new ones and to see what was happening with far away family members. If I liked or followed a brand on social media it was either to be the first to hear about promotions and offers or to show on my page that I was a fan of said brand. When considering an internship in digital marketing I first thought about Search Engine Optimization and AdWords. I did not know that there were so many opportunities for marketing products on social media and was surprised by the amount of time put into social media marketing and the positive results it garnered. Here is a list of the most salient things I have learned in the past three months.

Influence of social media on brand image

Customer services Rather than being put on hold and re-directed to person after person, using social media to provide customer service is quick and easy. When a person has a complaint to make we can point them in the right direction and ensure that they are in contact with the right person straight away. Answering customer’s problems publicly on social media is a great way to show current and potential customers how good your customer service is, and is a transparent way of dealing with complaints. Customer feedback is received instantaneously and can be recorded and responded to. Furthermore, we can keep track and record complaints to see what the most common problems are so improvements can be made in this area.

Brand loyalty Social media brings the customer closer to the brand and allows the two to communicate directly. Using Twitter, for example, to reply to customer comments about a brand or product shows the customer that the brand is glad for their custom and is concerned about their enjoyment of the product. Social media is an effective method of increasing business transparency as how the business conducts itself and deals with negativity can be seen by anybody.

Rising social media use

Advantages of social media In a world surrounded by smartphones, tablets and on-demand media, traditional media cannot always connect and converse with customers to the extent that social media does. By using Twitter to let your fans that follow you know that you have a new product out, you are not missing out any audience sector by advertising solely in magazines, for example. Last but not least, using social media means you can always keep an eye on the activity of your competitors in order to stay one step ahead.

Importance of connecting with influential bloggers Rather than relying on celebrity endorsements, using ordinary people to promote a product is more likely to appeal to people who look for reviews online. Potential customers can relate more to bloggers than they can to celebrities. Bloggers can introduce your product or service to their followers, many of whom may not have previously been aware of the product’s existence or advantages. The effect of using bloggers is manifold as blogger outreach can also be a way of increasing brand awareness, greater site traffic and improving search engine visibility.

The planning behind social media content

Researching the best posting times There are tools that record times of high levels of traffic on Facebook, for example, but also programmes such as Pulsar, whose main function is to collect as much information about a brand’s social following as possible. Times of heightened traffic are the best times to schedule posts to go live in order to achieve maximum visibility. There are times when people are more likely to check Facebook or update Twitter, for example after work in the evening or during lunch breaks.

Brainstorming content After the best posting times have been determined, it’s time to start brainstorming ideas. A great deal of thought goes into what is posted on a brand’s social media channel. If the content is interesting and attention-grabbing, followers will feel compelled to share what you have posted, thus spreading your content onto people who may not follow you. The content that is posted on social media has to be well thought out and presented in the right way. The success and failure of different types of content has to be continually monitored so any post that does not achieve the expected level of success is not repeated.

Organising giveaways Competitions and giveaways are very popular online and are a useful way of reaching a large amount of people. Ideas for running a great competition that will get customers excited and engaged have to be thought of, and ways to carry these out online have to be considered before they can go ahead.

Overall, the most important thing I will take away with me is that there are so many advantages to marketing online, and that social media marketing is particularly effective. So much more goes on behind the scenes than I had first thought, and digital marketing strategy is not only a more meticulously thought out and detailed approach than I had first considered, it is an innovative and exciting new way of marketing products and services to a wider audience.