Marketers will argue ad nauseum about the number of benefits Twitter offers as a marketing tool. However, in my opinion, there is only one that matters: Brevity!!
I often wonder why some marketers believe the best way to communicate a message is by writing a dissertation. I've never met a marketer who preferred reading a two paragraph ad or a 500 word flyer, yet so many of the same people seem to think others do. The very logic is mind boggling.
Research will tell you that the average consumer is hit with 600 to 3,000 marketing messages per day. Even on the very low end of that range, how does the mind comprehend and remember even a small percentage of those messages? The answer is "interest and brevity".
First and foremost, no one is going to remember a message if it doesn't have any perceived value. But many messages might have value if they were short enough for the consumer to read and remember. This is Twitter's primary strength! It requires marketers to keep their messages very brief, thus forcing them to focus ONLY on the most critical information.
An image is worth a thousand words, but without an image, you're stuck with a thousand words. Really bad marketers seem to think you need both!
During my entire 20 year career as a marketer, I have always argued this point with the product and sales departments. The good ones get it. The bad ones simply don't understand that just because they think something is important doesn't mean the customer thinks it's important. The best way to ensure that your marketing message won't resonate with an audience is to make it long. People just don't have time for long messages anymore. Get their attention first. If you generate interest, the consumer will do the rest of the work. Believe me, they'll find you, as long as you tell them where to go.
Here's a little exercise (and challenge): Take a look at any text based ad that you've created in the past year and try to convert it into a tweet (no more than 140 characters for those of you unfamiliar with Twitter). If you can't, then you're providing more information than the average consumer is likely to absorb. If you can, then you've successfully converted your message to one that is much more likely to be read, by identifying the points that are most important to your target audience. Now try integrating that short message back into your original ad. Does it still work? The Magic 8 Ball says, "The odds are in your favor".
Good job! Now practice it.
