My yesterday's post was on advantages which Twitter offers to small businesses. They are tremendous and lot businesses are lapping it up.
But there are some risks attached in using Twitter. According to me, they are
No Revenue Model :- Yes, you read it right. Twitter do not have any revenue model. It has huge audiences. Celebrities are endorsing it. VCs are gung ho about it. But Twitter has yet to think how they will earn money. This is a risky proposition for you. If Twitter is a tool around which your marketing, CRM, branding strategies revolve, you have to be careful. Keep your plan B ready.
It is free :- If free is an advantage then it is also big risk. Email is personal and free just like Twitter. Email is free and it is spammed with offers which you have never opened, mails which you never intend to open. Already there are thousands of unwanted tweets which one recieves but do not intend to recieve. Needless to say such tweets go unnoticed. Free things can be abused. Businesses need to be careful and Twitter should be used judiciously and everyone's privacy should be respected.
Defunct rate is high :- Nielson reported that 60% of Twitter users leave it after trying it for one month. Well, this is HIGH rate of attrition. Users do not announce before leaving this platform and they just stop using it. You spent some productive time in building relationships, initiating conversations with your prospective customers and you do not want that effort go down the drain.
I am not saying Twitter should not be used for your business but I am suggesting that strategy should not be built around Twitter. Use Twitter as tool and make it a one of the pillars of your success.
But have your plan B ready.
Twitter comes with risks
- on Tuesday, May 19, 2009
- Online Social Media, Twitter
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by A journey called Life , on May 20, 2009 1:37 AM
per me, a solid marketing tool (s) plus twitter as a complimentary one should be agood approach
by Mehul , on May 20, 2009 9:59 AM
I am not as worried about the first point, as I am about the other two...
I have just been using twitter for about a month now, but have seen more SPAM than i ever wanted to..., Companies need to get creative. The best way is to actually get twitter users to tweet about it (word of mouth approach). I think Intel with its superstar advertisement, and wolfram alpha etc..did a pretty good job
Then like you said...if 60% of the people actually abandon the accounts, one has to question how much its worth it.
Like 'a journey called life' said, best way is to use twitter to add to the advertising campaign..
by Ramesh , on May 21, 2009 10:28 AM
I am not so sure about Twitter Adesh. For the reasons you have described, I don't think it will be a game changing phenomenon. That's just me thinking.
Whoooppe - I can now comment on your blog.