1.

Discuss Twitter’s Global impact since its inception

First Twitter message was sent on March 21, 2006. In 2014, 500 million users were registered
on Twitter, 250 million were active, and more than 400 million tweets were posted each day
around the globe. Considered as social media related company, Twitter is a Born Global firm
which defined as “a business organization that, from inception, seeks to derive significant
competitive advantage from the use of resources and the sale of outputs in multiple
countries.” . Twitter went public in November 2013 and raised $2.1 billion in the second-biggest
internet IPO in history.
Since its inception on 2006, there are few revolutionaries’ impact globally:

 Transform the way people get news

 Twitter has change how people get updated with news not only in their country but also
globally just with their mobile phone. This move people from depending on traditional
media news such as newspaper, radio and television. This millstones came on January
15,2009 when an eyewitness of US Airways flight 1549 landed safety on the Hudson
River in New York City during an emergency snapped a photo of the plane on the river
and wrote a tweet and the send it to his 170 followers. The tweet, #Flight 1549 went
viral within minutes and proved that Twitter had transform the way we get news.

m
er as
 Change global election’s campaign and communication
 Twitter has become a platform for politicians to communicate and reach their supports

co
eH w
or reach for supporter to win election. The situation has change traditional
communication of campaign during election such as procures and public talk with

o.
additional platform to update the supporter on the latest status or initiatives which
rs e
added values to the politician to gain continuous support. For examples, Tweets from
ou urc
Barack Obama during the 2012 U.S presidential election “Four more years” become
most popular tweets which has been retweeted almost 1 million times after he won the
election.
o
aC s

 Change the landscape of marketing strategies and platform

v i y re

 Before internet and mobile devices become popular, most of the marketing channel are
using face to face, brochures, television and radio. However, after the era of digital
marketing Twitter, the landscape of marketing has change drastically. Most companies
are using digital marketing trifecta which consist of owned media, earned media, and
ed d

paid media for their marketing strategy.

ar stu

 Celebrities and sports figures started to embrace Twitter on 2009. For examples, Ashton
Kutcher, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber are now among most followed Tweeters with tens
of millions followers each. Firms can use celebrities or public figures to promote their
products through paid media and receive bonus through earned media when people
sh is

retweets their post.

Th

 Change engagement, transformation and reformation platform

 By 2011, Twitter had expanded across seven different countries and languages. Due to
its can be reach globally, Twitter not only used for marketing and news. Some of global
activist used Twitter for their ‘fight’ such as Bahraini protester. They used the platform to
overthrow of oppressive Middle East regimes. Based on Hussein Amin form American
University in Cairo, Twitter helps activities to disseminate information quickly while
bypassing government restriction.

This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
  Legislation and enforcement of law
 Used of social media increase exponentially globally, most government has
acknowledge the treat and risk from social media if proper control/governance not in
place. Most government has develop, re-visit current law and improve the enforcement
of Social/Multimedia Law to mitigate the risk of miss use of social media such as
distribute fake news which can jeopardize the harmony of public and nation. For
example, according to research for law firm Wiggin, 46% of 18- to 24-year-olds were
unaware that they could be sued for tweeting an unsubstantiated rumour about another
person. The false statement causes “serious harm” to a person’s reputation, it may be
libellous under the Defamation Act 2013.i

2.1 Twitter’s Largest Competitors

1. Competitors
 Facebook

m
er as
 Instagram

co
 LinkedIn

eH w
 Snapchat
 Google+

o.
 Pinterest
 Tumblr
rs e
ou urc
o
aC s
v i y re
ed d
ar stu
sh is
Th

Ratio of time spend on social networking pages

This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
 2.2 What makes Twitter different from its competitors

 Ease of use
 Easier way to pass info: By just posting a 140 character tweets, a business would
be passing more information than it can do anywhere else. This costs less or almost
nothing compared to other modes like sending a mail or making a phone call.
 Market research
 With the growing popularity of the internet, market research has become easy.
Instead of spreading questionnaires or asking people oral questions, the use of
social networks made it easy by making it easier to create free surveys and posting
the links so that people can participate. Twitter makes this process complete faster
than other methods.
 You don't have to tweet to use Twitter. Searching or following tweets can give you
an idea of trends and topics that Twitter users are interested in. Twitter operates in
real time, so you can search for conversations that are happening right now. Twitter
can tell you the hot topics of the moment, and allows you to see what Twitter users
are saying about your brand, your competitors and your product category.
 Lead generation
 Twitter is a great source of lead generation and traffic. Every tweet that gets posted

m
er as
publicly on Twitter will be indexed by search engines like Google. Hashtags makes

co
this easier and faster.

eH w
 Twitter also serves as a good tool for search engine optimization and connecting
websites through links. It’s one way many ways Twitter helps business grow for free.

o.
 Open customer service
rs e
 The platform allows direct two-way communication with your customers. Because
ou urc
it’s a public interaction, if you do it well it shows your business in a positive light.
 For Twitter-savvy customers, asking questions and getting services via Twitter is
very convenient. A large telecommunications company has capitalised on this,
o

providing a 24-hour response service for all sorts of customer queries, with staff
aC s

using their names and answering in a chatty, personal tone.

v i y re

 Twitter allows a one-on-one scenario, business to consumer, consumer to business,

they can contact each other on a direct level query one another, answer one
another in a very 'human' manner. A quick and effective form of building customer
interactivity which then results in building a greater trust between a business and
ed d

their customers, it is known that some major businesses teams dedicated simply to
ar stu

replying to and answering Tweets sent their way.

 Feedback generation
 Twitter is a faster method to gather feedback from business customers compared to
sh is

other social networking sites.

 A customer can provide the business with current up-to-date and insightful feedback
Th

on their operations, whether that be positive (i.e keep doing it and/or more of it) or
negative (i.e correct it and/or improve it). Whereas in the not too distant past the
only real feedback a business got were through out of date and biased surveys,
Twitter gives the business a chance to improve -- and to improve fast.
 Many Australian businesses use social media, including Twitter, to invite online
feedback, reviews or comments. This information is useful for businesses that want
to improve, and also for potential customers doing research for their own purchases.
 Connected with famous celebrities
 Twitter has more celebrities using its platform than any other social networking
platforms. Celebrities communicate to the fans using Twitter which can bring the
message faster than other social pages.

 Faster
 Twitter is widely known as a faster medium to transfer messages compared to the
other social networking tools. For example the Japanese earthquake and the death
This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
 of Osama Bin Laden was carried around the world in twitter first before other
mediums reported about it.
 This is important for business that wants to create an instant viral effect
 Target marketing
 With Twitter, you can locate people who have similar interests, which can help you
target potential customers. For instance, if your business is selling model trains, you
can easily find other model-train enthusiasts and "follow" them, which is the process
of enlisting to receive tweets sent by others. Through networking, you can build your
own following and develop long-term relationships that can lead to sales. The
process of "retweeting," where your followers send your tweets on to other
interested parties, can also help build your prospect base. This option is somewhat
available on other social networking pages, but not as fast and refined as Twitter.
 With specialised methods and sites such as twithawk.com, local businesses can
easily identify people (Twitter users) within their target market by simply checking for
keywords in current and past tweets. For example, if a Twitter user mentioned a
specific product e.g. 'luxury chocolate', in their tweet and were within a 3 miles of
the Luxury Chocolate Shop, this business then has the opportunity to reply and be
generally helpful to the user's tweet. Then in the long run this can allow the business
to build a group of 'active' and 'loyal' twitter followers for the business, meaning an

m
expanded customer base, improved brand loyalty and ultimately an increase in

er as
sales.

co
 Cost-Effectiveness

eH w
 The mainstream use of Twitter is essentially free, a business doesn't have to pay for
any registration nor monthly fees. Therefore, a business is essentially getting a free

o.
rs e
platform from which they have the ability to market, advertise and provide customer
ou urc
services all within one unique and efficient package. Giving it the potential to
massively cut business costs -- and hence increase profits.
 Brand loyalty
 If a business executes useful tweets and employs a 'helpful' strategy to its followers,
o

as mentioned above, they will build a certain trust with their followers and with that
aC s

customer loyalty. They are likely to buy from the business they know well and trust,
v i y re

than buy from one of its competitors who they know little or literally nothing about.
 Commercial Strategy
 With books such as 'Twitter Power 2.0: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at
ed d

a Time' and 'The Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at
a Time' along with other sources can help educate a business on strategies to
ar stu

maximize the potential gains and sales made from Twitter. Allowing Twitter to
effectively become a fundamental tool in a business's operations when carried out in
an effective way.
sh is

 For example, such a strategy Cindy King implemented is through setting out a set of
useful and open ended tweets 5 times a day for 6 weeks, as a result she saw a
Th

800% increase in inquires for her business\

 Open market
 There are very few places where Twitter is unable to reach. Even in nations that
block this social site, many users work diligently to get around those blocks. This
can help a business break into a foreign market much more quickly than in the
traditional sense because you can have brand recognition. Think about it: a tweet
which takes two minutes to write could potentially reach millions of people in just
seconds. That is a powerful marketing mechanism which shouldn’t be ignored.
 Numerical and graphical research
 Whether you want to see the reactions you get to specific hashtags or you’re just
looking to see the reach of a tweet through the number of favourites and retweets it
received, there are multiple ways to track the data which gets collected. You can
even look at data by the hour if you wish. This information can also be exported into
helpful graphs so you can visualize the data for a better understanding of it.
 Offline connectivity
This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
  One of the fascinating evolutionary elements of Twitter is called the “TweetUp.” This
is a gathering of like-minded Twitter users who are within a geographical region that
occurs off-line. Your business can schedule a TweetUp virtually anywhere, invite
followers in that area to come meet you, and this allows you to make what you’re
offering even more real than it already is.
 Spend an hour crafting tweets for the week, schedule out when you want your
tweets to go out, and you’re done. All you’ve got to do is periodically check your
account for @ replies or questions to what you’ve shared. This means you could
even go on vacation for an extended period of time, but still not lose the marketing
momentum that you’ve established.

3. What marketing challenges does Twitter face as it continues to expand its brand
globally?

 Getting growth of new users

 The growth in the number of people who log in each month has consistently slowed for the
past couple years1 – most accounts are dormant and not active
 The need to attract new users i.e Gen Z and younger millennials - it can no longer rely on

m
er as
its traditional promotional strategy of word of mouth
 Slowing growth makes it harder for Twitter to attract advertisers, who supply the company

co
eH w
with the bulk of its revenue.
 Mitigation actions taken:

o.
o Twitter has developed new programs to publish content from its site on other
rs e
websites, to get it in front of people who aren't regular Twitter users
ou urc
o Tweets and hashtags are plastered across countless billboards, TV programs, and
advertisements
o

 Curbing the abuse and complying with local laws

aC s

 content posted to its site can be horrible and offensive since it does not require people to
v i y re

use their real names – comments, posting & etc (free-speech policy)
 The need to understand and sensitive to every issues and sentiments for each countries –
to set more restrictions like any other social media rivals
 Twitter has been improving for letting users report abuse, and has changed its policies to
ed d

ban content like porn and explicit content.

ar stu

 Manage the platforms

 As Twitter expanding, the more it need to ensure its website are stable, reliable, safe from
any risk of cyber-security, attractive and easy to use.
sh is

 It's an asset that works around the clock to draw in visitors, convert them, and help Twitter
Th

achieve its profits etc

 To have an IT in-house departments to foresee and manage Twitter websites.

 Low switching cost

 High competition from existing social media as well as new entrants
 User go where the audiences are, and the audiences go where the friends are, and if your
friends aren't using Twitter, they will not use Twitter
 The needs to understand their strength and weaknesses and improve it –140 character
limits need to be revised and simplify the service for new users
 Focus on how user can build relationship with others i.e 2 way communications rather than
promote links or want to get word out

 Hiring top talents

This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
  As companies scale and technologies continue to evolve, getting & retaining top talents is a
must
 Many companies are shifting more resources to inbound marketing, which means higher
and higher demand for top marketing talent
 The quick rate at which the demand for these jobs are rising has caused a marketing skills
gap - making it difficult to find candidates with the technical, creative, and business
proficiencies needed to succeed in digital marketing

4.0 Reference
1. http://www.infobarrel.com/Advantages_and_Disadvantages_of_Twitter_for_Business
2. Only 302 million monthly active users at the end of 1st quarter 2015 -
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2934980/it-leadership/twitters-next-ceo-faces-four-
challenges.html
3. https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/aug/12/social-media-law-an-essential-guide

m
er as
co
eH w
o.
rs e
ou urc
o
aC s
v i y re
ed d
ar stu
sh is
Th

This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
 m
er as
co
eH w
o.
rs e
ou urc
o
aC s
v i y re
ed d
ar stu
sh is
Th

This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
 i

m
er as
co
eH w
o.
rs e
ou urc
o
aC s
v i y re
ed d
ar stu
sh is
Th

This study source was downloaded by 100000822519115 from CourseHero.com on 11-01-2021 09:36:36 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/32201930/Twitterdocx/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)