Ultimate Twitter Study

Today we asked the question:

Experience is definitely the word of our 9^th UTS-day! (@Sosocialbe very simple: the customer experience!!! fanastic or appalling #research #UTSQ9, @katrijn_windey Extremely good or bad experience with product/service #UTSQ9, @SpikeyBXL Great or lousy customer service, outstanding products, good advertisement #research #UTSQ9)

It seems to be that this question has an answer that is the same for most tweeters. Most consumers tweet about a brand when they have something to say about the experience they have with said brand. Surprisingly there seems to be no difference between negative and positive experiences as both of them are likely to be shared (@KarolienHessels A negative experience or an extremely (or even surprisingly) good one #UTSQ9).

So, if consumers can experience your brand on Twitter then it will be likely that they will tweet about you! While this is true for our follower base, we know from other research (social media study 2011, coming up) that most experiences shared online are positive… Maybe twitter is more negative than other social media channels, or is this just coincidence?

More and more brands are discovering the wonderful world of Twitter. So, we asked consumers the question:

Is there a danger for brands NOT being on Twitter? #UTSQ8

@philipferdinand makes a great observation:

The world of twitter is full of tweets about brands. Opinions, positive / negative experiences, etc.  are just a few of the things consumers tweet about when it comes to brands. Being on twitter can help brands gain more insight about what is being tweeted about them.  And, this way they can even start the conversation!

But, is it really a danger for brands to not be on Twitter? Most consumers seem to think not being on twitter equals missing out on opportunities (@dadovanpeteghem it’s twofold: you miss out on opportunities and you might miss out on a crisis around your brand, f.e. #carglasszuigt #UTSQ8).

And, when consumers start tweeting negative experiences or when things go bad… that’s where the danger lies! (@Sportcareers #UTSQ8 … that’s a real danger. Not being able to handle your crisis communication is a real danger)

Plus, Twitter can help brands notice when negative talk (actually, negative tweet) is going around.  Just as @dadevanpeteghem points out… #carglasszuigt (Not something you want consumers tweeting about you, is it?)

The real risk for brands isn’t that they aren’t on Twitter but that their competitors are! Especially when their competitors are doing a good job and starting conversations with consumers.

So, to sum it all up… the danger for brands not being on Twitter equals missing out on opportunities, missing out on a possible crisis and the possibility of losing clients to brands / companies that are on Twitter.

To start of this beautiful Monday morning we asked tweeters the question:

What do you think if a brand starts following you on Twitter? #UTSQ7

Do tweeters see being followed by a brand as a positive thing? Or rather as a negative? It seems that being followed by a brand is perceived as positive because this way brands are monitoring tweeters. And, that the polite thing to do is thank them (@Coolz0r If it’s not a brand I like, it’s just ‘thanks for the follow’. Otherwise I would have added them already. #UTSQ7)

When tweeters decide to ‘return the kindness’ and also follow brands they expect a few things:

1. No autoDM thanking them. You’ve got to make it (feel) personal!
2. Open communication lines, by answering Q&A’s, sharing experiences,…
3. Trust is fragile on twitter. Consumers are hyper-sensitive to twitterspam!

Yet, some tweeters view being followed not always as a good thing. The question they ask themselves is: why are brands following me? Is it for control – maybe even a sort of ‘big brother is watching you’ – or just to gather more followers? (@philipferdinand #UTSQ7 Depends: if i started tweeting about it or not. Can be control, proactive commercials or gathering followers.) Consumers have the reflex to think that they will be ‘controled’ by a brand. Adding a personal touch and openness to your communication is very important for brands on Twitter.

So, being followed by a brand is considered a nice form of monitoring but some tweeters have a more pessimistic view…

Conclusion? Follow and interact with you followers so that they feel unique. Show them that you care. And, even give them a little bit of love <3

Today, we asked ourselves the question:

According to you, who is the best person to manage the Twitter account of a company? #UTSQ6

When we go over the tweets of today, we can conclude that there are plenty of options to who should be managing the Twitter account.

First of all, should only one person be tweeting? (@thebandb only one person?) Apparently the size of the company and the goal of the account should be taken into consideration (@SpikeyBXL Depends what the account is for. Comm building/Cust Serv/PR(opaganda)/Market engagement? #Twitter #research #UTSQ6) It seems like there are plenty of options (social media experts, PR, MarCom, …) but ideally the account should be under the wings of 1 expert department with maybe a supervisor (Big company) or even better, the CEO (small company)  

Now, who should this person be? It appears that it is import that this person has a quick access to information and needs to have enough impact on issues. It should be someone with enough influence to be listened to when he tells management what he learns and the ability to fix problems. @chrisdemeyere basically, the conversation manager. And, maybe even more important, the tweeter should be @vermeiretim a digital native who speaks Twitter-language.

Voila, there you have it! The person who should be managing your companies Twitter account is someone who (1) has enough influence to be listened to and (2) who speaks the Twitter-language.

Just because brands are on Twitter doesn’t mean that they are actually doing a good job. That is why we asked the question:

 What three brands are doing a great job on Twitter? And why exactly? #UTSQ5

It seems that ‘personal brands’ are doing a lesser job (or maybe just not being noticed enough as a brand) on Twitter than ‘real brands’. None of the answers are linked to gurus in a certain domain, CEO’s and founders of companies or even celebrities. The brands that are mentioned represent all different kind of sectors such as sports, leisure, entertainment and industry. 

Brands that are most mentioned are Mobile Vikings, Telenet and KLM (especially for their good social-customer-service). Hema, Aveve, StuBru, Heineken, etc. were also tweeted for doing a great job. Also @FCBarcelona and@NikeFootball are mentioned for their great content and live reporting.

Most of our consumers seem to like the action of certain brands Twitter because of their constant interaction and the assistance they give on Twitter.

Today was another UTS-day! And, what a great day it was. We asked a question, you gave us great answers!

 What are the top three things you expect from brands on Twitter? #UTSQ4

Ok, some consumers aren’t following brands (@SvenOrnelis #UTSQ4 on Twitter I prefer People 2 Brands) and others want them to stay away (@Wolfr_ to stay away?). But, most consumers do follow brands on Twitter. And, they know exactly what they expect from them!

So, what are these expectations?  

Honesty, interaction and helping seem to be the most common expectations. Tweeters expect brands to listen to their questions / problems and help find quick solutions. They expect a great deal of interaction! Especially DM response.

Authenticity also seems to be very appreciated. Consumers want to experience a real connection (@ort to not act as one of them, but one of us. Has to feel like you know someone on the inside) and personal reactions. Treat your followers as equals! Also, they don’t want to feel like they’re talking to a robot (@philippebossin engagement, honesty (e.g. no fake “Charlotte” > @telenet), personality).

On top of that, they want relevant information. No broadcasting! No peptalk! And definitely no spamming.  

Overall, consumers expect brands to be active and interactive! So, if brands want to gain (happy) followers they need to adapt to consumers. All you have to do is help & inspire them. And, once in a while… make them smile =)

 Today was UTS-day! Ultimate Twitter Study day, HOORAY!

 So, we asked the question:

What is the best thing you’ve ever seen from a brand on Twitter? #UTSQ3

It seems that tweeters appreciate brands that have a (constant) personal interaction with them. On top of that, when the CEO personally welcomes new clients and helps solve problems tweeters become happy followers.

AndrewVassallo: @Polledemaagt @tomvandecruys, ceo Lampiris who personally welcomes new clients, answers questions, … extremely nice

The CEO of Lampiris welcomes all his new followers and tries to help them as much as possible. This way followers become happy followers! And what do they do? They recommend the brand!

Quick solutions to problems tweeted are also prized! @KLM e.g answers questions and helps to solve problems that any of their passengers might have.

WouterBlok: @Polledemaagt I think response under the hour, solution within 24 is pretty strong. @klm twitter promis.

So, as a brand on Twitter… what must you do?

-          Be nice and welcoming

-          Be helpful and solve problems

Voila, being nice and helpful can make your brand the best thing tweeters have ever seen!

The Ultimate Twitter Study is back! Oh yes, yes it is! This time our focus lies on brands and companies. We want to gain insight on how consumers think about the activity and presence of brands on Twitter, as well as understand how Twitter is used by brands within their brand strategy and how this can be improved in the future. And we want to share these insights with you too!

So how does this work? It’s simple: We launch a question every day, you provide the answers!
For every single answer you give us, we will share an insight from our quantitative study (a questionnaire among hundreds of corporate tweeters and consumers). We’ll share this insight with you via a direct message (so don’t forget to follow @ultitwitstudy). All we ask in return is to keep this information to yourself for at least half a day.
Interested? GOOD! Let’s get started…

Each tweeted question will have an unique hashtag. Not only is this easy for us but also for you! A win-win situation!  All you have to do is reply using the specific hashtag. EASY! And if you also retweet the question, it will only do you good… Because we’ll share the outcomes of all answers with you too! Feedback on the results of each question will be posted on this website as soon as we find time to dig through the massive amount of responses you gave us =)

Ok, so here we go! Launching first question in 3 2 1…

1. #UTSQ1 What is the added value of Twitter for brands, compared to Facebook?

(Answer using #UTSQ1 !! THANK YOU!)

As we said before, we want to map the use of Twitter within companies and gain insights in how brands use Twitter as a medium within their communication strategy and how this could be improved in the future.

If you have a good idea on how and why Twitter is used within your company you can participate in this study by completing a short survey (10 minutes max). If not, please forward it to the right person within your company, so he or she can participate. As a participant, you and your company will be the first to be notified of the results of this study, and will have access to a research report, all for free! It’s a win-win situation, so what are waiting for? Go to http://bit.ly/lS8vqd and fill it in, we’ll keep you posted, promise!

Do you speak Spanish? If yes, you should definitely have a look at the following study conducted by IZO, a specialized consultancy firm in Customer and Social Media Experience Management. Check http://www.izo.es/twitterengage/ for the website or http://www.izo.es/twitterengage/informe-twitter-engage.pdf for the pdf. For those who can’t read Spanish, we have been so kind as to summarize the most important findings of the study in this blog post. You can thank us later!

IZO analyzed the Twitter behaviour of 75 of the biggest Spanish companies in the most important economical sectors. 76% of these companies are present on Twitter and taken into account for further analysis. Some basic findings:

Why do companies tweet?

1. To inform and communicate (82%)
2. To launch promotions and special offers (67%)
3. To maintain and create customer relationships (60%)

What do companies tweet?

Companies tend to tweet mainly about themselves. Less than 1 out of 10 Tweets is a RT, and only 27% of the Tweets are conversations. Even worse: 30% of the companies involved never engaged in conversation using an @mention during the study!

This self focus is also reflected in the number of followers and friends: while 46% of the companies have over 1000 followers, the same percentage follows less than 100 users. 13% doesn’t even follow anyone! There’s a big gap between the average number of followers and friends: 2556 versus 924. One giant piece of advice for companies: Talk less and listen more!

Which companies are tweeting?

Fashion and tourism&transport companies showed the highest penetration on Twitter: all of the companies in the study were active on Twitter. The lowest penetration was found among distribution and insurance companies: respectively only 38% and 54% of the sample in these sectors was active on Twitter.

But let’s not forget that creating an account is only the first and the easiest step. The quality of the account is more important than the existence of it. Regarding conversations, it’s Telco that turns out to be the best student of the class: 56% of their Tweets were replies. Automobile, Energy and Banking are less conversational with less than 20% replies, besides some exceptions.

What about InSites’ Ultimate Twitter Study?

We are looking forward to compare these results with our own, and we hope to gain some extra insights out of the Ultimate Twitter Study by using a broader research method and a bigger sample.

• We will run text analytics on the corporate Tweets, but also on the @mentions sent to those accounts.
• We will compare the results from this text analysis with those from a survey completed by conversation managers, to check whether what companies say is the same as what they actually do. Next to that, we will also match the results from the surveys completed by conversation managers (companies) with those of the ones completed by consumers. Do companies do what consumers want?

As I said before, we are really looking forward to the results and implications of our Ultimate Twitter Study, and we hope it will inform, interest or surprise you too.