Twitter vs. TV Advertising

by Andrew Schulkind

TV advertising works. You may not like it, and as a digital marketer, you may bristle at the idea that it’s effective. But it’s hard to imagine marketers spending some $76B a year on something that’s completely ineffective. (Which doesn’t mean they’re not slow in adapting to digital’s strengths …)

The folks at Twitter probably wish there was some sort of proof that TV advertising doesn’t work, because as Shelly Palmer points out, Twitter gets a huge volume of free advertising as broadcasters do all they can to get you to tweet about their shows.

And still, the user numbers for Twitter are fairly paltry in the grand scheme of things.

That doesn’t mean that Twitter sucks or that you should replace it with other social media channels. It’s still one of the most powerful social media networks/broadcast platforms available, but the hype may outpace the substance.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, channels like Twitter should be a complement to mundane and unsexy things like your website and a strong email marketing list. Those are channels and presences you own. They are things you can rely on when the next big thing comes along and unseats Twitter. (Even if – or especially if – the next big thing is more hype than substance.) Because when that next big thing comes along, you’re building your following from scratch just like everyone else.

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Marketers Ruin Everything

Remember when email was cool? Before everyone had an email address. Before everyone had even heard of email. The really, really cool kids had “@well.com” email addresses. (That’s WELL as in “Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link.”) The rest of us had addresses like 92304.1263@compuserve.com. Then there was the huge influx of @aol.com addresses and email wasn’t…MORE >
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Is Podcasting Right for Your Content Marketing?

If you’re considering adding a podcast to your content marketing mix, you’re going to like this article. I recently posted an item on LinkedIn about deciding whether a podcast or a blog might be right for your content marketing efforts. Long-time friend and colleague E. B. Moss commented on that post and this conversation grew…MORE >
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Improving Website Conversions – Building Better Mail Forms

We all know that the more fields you include in a form on your website, the fewer responses you’ll get. But that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for any information. That’s not much of a form, after all. Here are three approaches to consider. Single-Form Fields Yup, you can go the minimalist route and ask…MORE >

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