Dymocks offers unique interpretation of what ‘exclusive Twitter content’ means
If you thought the gestation period of Taronga Zoo’s new baby elephant was long, then you haven’t checked out the devlopment of book company Dymock’s Australian Twitter marketing campaign.
The @ForBookLovers account burst into life on May 11, with the promising message:
“Australia’s greatest book store is now on twitter! Follow us to get exclusive content, reviews, videos, twitter only offers & much more.”
A radio silence of 67 days followed, before the profile leapt into action again, proclaiming:
Teaser campaign indeed
Ouch! People forget when setting up social media marketing accounts that its visible from day 1. What you’ve described erodes trust, and makes it feel like yet another push campaign re-worked into the social network du jour. If it is a genuinely “social” campaign, its best to launch when ready and start tweeting and offers at the same time, and let it grow organically.
Most large companies are afraid of what Twitter and other social media might mean. They think it allows customers to write about them in the public domain and hold them up to public scrutiny. What these companies fail to realise is that customers will do this irrespective of whether they participate or not.
Many large companies are also afraid of what jumping into social media might do to customer expectations. They worry that they will now be expected to interact and engage with customers 24/7 on a very personalised, individual basis. They are correct on this front. Yet, this is the reality we now have to live with. Plus, this can be a positive and become a real company strength as it has in our case.
The fact that Dymocks use the word “launch” for a Twitter account highlights the mistaken approach many large companies take. All the social media experts would say to just jump in and start interacting. There is no need for strategy documents or a launch. Just have conversations with people and see where that takes you.
at least dymocks are trying – can’t say the same for woolworths: http://twitter.com/woolworths
A case of the big guys crashing, while the little guys win the day.
Local Hobart bookshop Fullers have the twitter thing down.
To be clear, I’m not associated with Fullers in any other way than being a fond browser of their real world bookshop.
And they make me smile with tweets like:
Like : “Wow… there’s a Big Fat Duck over in the cooking section… wonder how long he’ll last over there?”
“They two bad teddies would like to let you know that they are FREE if you buy their book. Do not be put off by the badness. They are CUTE!”
“Yes! we offer advisory services when our customers call us as they’re stuck for inspiration in airport bookshops!”
See them in action at http://twitter.com/FullersBookshop