Twitter Conversations and How the Big Brands are Using Them

Updated on: Jul 21, 2017
IIDE-Twitter-Case-Study

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My name is Aditya Shastri and I have written this case study with the help of my students from IIDE's online digital marketing courses in India.

Practical assignments, case studies & simulations from Harvard Business Review helped the students from this course present this analysis.

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Social media has paved way for marketers to engage, interact and converse with their customers in a way that is more human. Twitter, in fact, is perhaps the best platform to develop a relationship with your target market!
Twitter Conversations
Digital Marketing Academic Challenge 2024 - DMAC

Let’s Converse

A two-way conversation on a social media platform like Twitter is a dialogue where brands listen and respond to the wants and needs of their audience. It’s not about selling but about building your brand equity. Answer questions, give useful information and share ideas even if they aren’t yours. Educate, inform and delight your audience and soon they will consider you a valuable member of their community. They will look to you for information, advice and an opinion and will repay you by learning more about your business (and buying from you).

How To Have Twitter Conversations

Here are some of the ways you can converse with people on Twitter:

Mention People

This is the best way to start a conversation. Mention a few people in your tweets to start a conversation. You can discuss a trending topic, ask a question, or just compliment them on their work! Once they reply and the thread starts, other people may also join in the conversation!

Here’s how @airtelindia did it:

Twitter Conversations Mention People

Brownie points if you can link it to your marketing strategy!

A conversation between two great visionaries:

Twitter Conversations and How the Big Brands are Using Them-3-digital marketing

Listen and Converse

Listen and respond when you have a valuable input. Using Twitter’s advanced search option, you can listen to what other people are talking about and their conversations and jump in whenever you can! Use the neat filters to find the most relevant content.

 Twitter Conversations Advanced Search Option

At first glance, the options may be intimidating but play around a little, and you will get a hang of it. In addition, in the search results page, you can filter the results further.

Twitter Conversations Search Filters

Here are a few examples of nifty shortcuts you can use on the search bar directly:

Twitter Conversations Listen and Converse

Another way you can find noise about your relevant industry is by creating lists. A Twitter list allows you to separate the Twitter accounts you follow into groups. You can create lists of your competitors, influencers, professional organizations as well as current and prospective customers. This will help you to “listen” more effectively and gain valuable insights. Maintaining lists according to motives will also help you eliminate the clutter and make your Twitter-time more productive.

The lists @myntra maintains:

Twitter Conversations Lists

@myntra is also a part of nearly 380 lists!

Twitter Chats

Twitter chats are open, moderated conversations that use a relevant hashtag for a certain topic. For example, #blogchat, #paidmedia, #GST, etc. If you type a hashtag in the search bar, you can see the tweets of anyone using that hashtag. Having your own unique hashtag that other people can use also has many benefits such as increasing your brand equity, helping to crowdsource content, creating a community using live tweeting, etc.

Here’s how @RelianceMobile and @Flipkart did it:

Twitter Conversations Twitter Chats
Twitter Conversations Twitter Chats Flipkart

Reliance used a generic (and probably trending) topic to increase visibility whereas Flipkart is trying to build equity using a hashtag unique to their brand – #FlipQuote

Use Buttons

Replying, Retweeting and Liking are also ways of engaging with your audience and letting them know of your presence. The original tweeter may also take notice of your presence and promote you later.

Let’s see a few examples:

Twitter Conversations Reply

Flipkart’s friendly and casual presence is winning them a lot of fans.

Twitter Conversations Replying
Twitter Conversations Retweet

Almost every brand is handling customer service on Twitter these days.

Share Interesting & Useful Content

Lastly, another way to spark conversation is by tweeting content that other people would be interested in. They can reply, retweet and like your tweet and even become your follower!

Twitter Conversations Share Content

@YESBANK talks about something a lot of people would be interested to read.

Twitter Conversations Be Consistent

While this is brand promotion, fans of BMW would find such messages useful.

Digital Marketing Academic Challenge 2024 - DMAC
So, there it is – How to spark conversation on Twitter and become a leading presence on the platform. Here’s a special tip for you: be consistent but don’t be spammy; be patient but don’t be neglectful.

Did we miss out on any tip? Let us know in the comments below.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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