Kamu Starbucks atau WalMart?

Blog post yang akan kamu baca berikut ini adalah tulisan saya yang 'mangkal' di web Praxis tempat saya bekerja saat ini.

Nah, pertanyaan pentingnya adalah: Kamu Starbucks atau Wal Mart?

Saya tipe Starbucks :p

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SOCIAL TEXTROVERT: A ‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’ in Digital Communication?

'Einstein says hello!' sumber foto: npr.org

8 is the number of new twitter accounts registered every one second.

Oh yes, the ‘bird’ is now one of the most influential communication channel.

I was like, “OMG!”

The number of tweeple (twitter people) has now reached more than 301 million. It is bigger than the population of Indonesia (approx. 237 million). And nearly matches the population of the United States (approx. 307 million). Oh, almost forget, the calculation is from twopcharts.com.

Jaw dropping? Yeap! The microblogging site has become a republic, a Larry Bird Republic. You can actually meet almost everyone (and every-thing!) on it. Not to mention, brands. From the worldwide @DunkinDonuts to the local-style snack such as @infomaicih, they are all ready to communicate up-to-the-minute information with you.

Lots of brand are also racing to share information to public and tweeting as many as it can in an attempt to increase the number of its followers. But is it really effective? Does more tweets equals more followers? To answer this, I’d like to compare and contrast the strategies used by two highly popular companies that serve millions of customers everyday. The first company is coffee phenomenon @Starbucks and the second one is US retail giant @Walmart.

@Walmart responds to hundreds of tweets and hashtags a day. It also spend a lot of effort to engage in conversatons with its customer in varied topics, from product info to trivia quizzes. @Walmart tweets more than 15 times every hour. So, i think it is official to label @Walmart as a Textrovert, the gregarious and overtexting one. On the other hand, @Starbucks is more introvert compared to @Walmart. @Starbucks tweets not more that 10 tweets a day, mostly monologue with pictures of Starbucks’s product.

So, which strategy is more effective, in terms of gaining followers? Starbucks actually outnumbers Walmart in Twitter followers: 3.618.896 vs 314.834 (April 2013).

From these two big brands, we can learn that strategies are important.

Here it is, the twitter survival kit:

• No ‘brand’

Although it is an account for a brand, try to personalize the account. Add personalities and make your followers feels that you are their friends. It is human nature that people love to talk to other people, not to a brand.

• Stay visible

It is not about how many tweets in a day, it is about tweeting at the right time. On weekdays, the highest volume of retweet and reply often happens at lunch time (11. 30 – 13.30) and after office hour (16.00 – 18.30). On weekend, you can try at 10.00 – 12.00, 15.00 – 16.00, and 19.00 – 20.00.

• Keep the conversation alive

Don’t be passive, you’re not a zombie. Find various interesting topics, mention people, reply or retweet. Topics that are related to current events and human interests usually attract people to interact.

• Show some love

Dont act like a queen bee. If someone retweet you, follow him/her back. Nobody, even in the Republic of Larry Bird, wants to be ‘alone’.