Infographic: How to get more clicks on Twitter

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a great empirical study by Buddy Media which outlines ways in which to optimise the engagement of Facebook wallposts. So what about Twitter?  Well there’s an infographic for that too, courtesy of Hubspot.

via www.vincentabry.com

No need to SHOUT!

This amusing clip is quite unbelievable – it’s basically a guy called Phil Davison pitching for a political post in Stark County, USA but to be honest it feels more like a rallying cry before going into battle!  You’ve got to admire his passion, enthusiasm and self-belief but unfortunately it’s this over-zealousness and his inability to read the room which ends up being his downfall.

So what’s the significance of posting it here on a marketing blog?  Well in a lot of ways, selling yourself in a job interview is not too dissimilar to pitching your brand, product or service to prospective buyers. In fact for me this clip is a simple metaphor about how not to market your brand! At the end of the day, you’re not going to win the hearts and minds of your customers if you simply SHOUT AT THEM and insist on telling them how AMAZING you are.

And yet even in this day and age there are some brands who still demonstrate this very behaviour.  They share exactly the same passion, enthusiasm and self-belief in their brand and products as Phil Davison – nothing wrong with that. But within this bubble of conviction lies a mistaken belief that there’s a receptive audience out there who are literally hanging on their every word, desperate to receive the next advert, corporate update or installment on the latest  product launch. They’ll even invest millions in broadcast media or CRM programmes to ram the point home.

I’m not dissing broadcast media or CRM as these are the necessary tools of the trade to drive awareness, brand opinion and affinity.  All I’m saying is that brands can’t rely purely on product benefits, broadcast media or communication frequency to generate sales.   Just like an interviewee, we need to be able to read the room, understand what it is they’re looking for and tailor our response accordingly.  In fact, the less shouting the better. At the end of the day we’ll enjoy a much higher success rate if we simply try to have an intelligent, one-to-one conversation.

Needless to say, Phil didn’t get the job!