By Beth Thompson, VP, Director of Public Relations & Social Media. Originally published via Bulldog Reporter.
As Twitter has been taken over by Elon Musk, the state of the platform is unpredictable, especially due to recent talent layoffs as well as rising concerns of misinformation, distrust and hate speech. These concerns are matched with the potential for the entire Twitter platform strategy to transform as Musk evaluates the potential to make Twitter subscription based, eliminating some if not all advertising, which has been known previously to supply 90 percent of the company’s revenue.
While some major execs say that the moves are more entertaining than watching and paying for a monthly Netflix subscription, many brands and advertisers are left scratching their heads on what to do with organic and paid social content strategies. Here’s what you need to know.
Paid advertising watch outs
As the platform strategy is being overhauled, many brands are pulling advertising from the platform, noting glitchy performance, trouble with logging-in, slow load times, long customer wait lines and security concerns. If you have an active campaign running now, it may be in your best interest to temporarily pause the initiative out of an abundance of caution.
Organic strategy
Despite the changes that are happening, it is best for brands to stay “on” with their organic content strategies on Twitter. Why? The massive changes are bringing more users to the platform, which could mean more eyeballs on your content. While content output will feel like business as usual, heightened monitoring should take place to ensure that the spread of misinformation does not take place, and that brands are not being associated with unwanted polarizing conversation.
Community managers will also need to take extra time and caution to learn about potential enhancements, additions and new technology integrations within the platform that can support marketing strategies.
Measurement and analytics
Many data and analytic platforms leverage Twitter intelligence to provide brands and advertisers with insights on conversation volume, sentiment and share of voice based on Tweets over specific periods of time. If you partner with companies like Meltwater and/or Audiense as well as other data platforms, be sure to reach out to your customer service reps to learn about the impact. At Gatesman, we leverage our platform partners to help guide us through the changes in real-time so we understand the intricate watch-outs on our content strategy.
What else should my brand be thinking about?
One last parting thought, in a Twitter sized statement. If Twitter is an integral part of your overall marketing strategy, start to think about expansion beyond the platform.
How can you gain better leads, improve SEO and overall brand awareness leveraging other channels of communications?
As you too think about strategic shifts for your brand or business, dare I say, channeling certain aspects of Elon Musk, prepare to armor up for continued chaos and changes at Twitter.
Continue to leverage social to promote your brand, but also be ready to protect it at the highest levels.