Twitter as a Viral Marketing Tool

Twitter as a Viral Marketing Tool

Twitter’s latest bump of $100 million from venture capitalists means only one thing – that it’s chance of survival as a powerful communication tool is only going to get stronger. With upwards of 24 million unique visitors in August (according to Compete.com) Twitter’s stake in the social media game is getting bigger and bigger.

We’d like to highlight some businesses who are using Twitter as an incredible viral marketing tool, but before we do so we’d like to quote Rachele Sterne from Publishers Weekly on what is meant by viral marketing – “There is a reason they call it viral marketing – because the best social media functions like a virus. It spreads easily, embeds itself seamlessly into hosts and exploits a few critical individuals to achieve global exposure. It may sound terrifying, but you can control it. And if you do, you can reach thousands of people—and thousands of the exact people you want to reach. Right now, the place to start is Twitter.”

This definition is clear and concise and embodies how social media tools like Twitter are incredibly powerful in beginning a viral campaign. But let’s look at this in a little more detail. Right now the publishing industry is one of the most successful in creating buzz for newly released titles. For instance, DoubleDay Publishing started a twitter account and posed short puzzles on Dan Brown’s newest book to build huge buzz with 4,500 targeted followers in just a couple months.

Other companies in the publishing and book selling business have jumped on board and are also seeing great benefits for their business. Barnes & Noble used Twitter to upload photos of Dan Brown at the launch party and announced record-breaking book sales.

Another industry which is now using Twitter for business is Lufthansa Airlines. They used online press releases to let people know that they are launching @Lufthansa_USA on October 5th and anyone who followed before the end of October 2nd would get a nice surprise. Not bad with 2,300 followers in just a few days, and all those followers were rewarded with a $75 gift certificate.

Will other industries follow in using Twitter as a powerful viral marketing tool? What unique strategies will unfold? We’ll keep this blog updated with new revelations and also showcase some of Brave Media’s own projects which are leading to great success for a variety of businesses.

Here is a list of some excellent tips for your business when using Twitter: