Twitter Chatter

In the 90's, we had chat rooms. You might have assigned a time, a date, and users would congregate, virtually, to discuss a topic of their choosing. To this end, we still have forums and message boards, the best example demonstrated on Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert website.

Now, through Twitter chats, Twitter has taken this desire for finding like-minded people who share a passion or similar interest, and consolidated it onto one platform. And so we have the simplest of concepts, which allows Joe Public to converse with industry experts and opinion leaders, to exchange engaging content, whilst at the same time increasing their professional network and establishing brand expertise.

One of the earliest examples that I can remember of a Twitter chat is the Beauty Bloggers chat, run every Sunday evening at 8pm GMT under the hashtag #bbloggers. The chat was set up by established beauty blogger Fee, who blogs at www.makeupsavvy.co.uk, and brings together other bloggers from both the fashion and beauty worlds to discuss topics they find interesting; often, the topics are subject-specific, such as favourite mascaras or Autumn trends, but occasionally the chats focus on the blogosphere and allows users to exchange tips on making their blog successful or best practice in dealing with PR's who often approach bloggers to review their products.

Each Twitter chat has its own personality and core group of participants, and as you might expect, there are a range of chats that happen daily that would be useful for any practitioner to take heed of. #CommsChat is the home of Europe's most popular communications conversation which takes place twice weekly, and looks at all aspects of communications including PR, marketing, digital and reputation management. The website publishes a brief prior to the chat, outlining the main discussion points, and transcripts of previous broadcasts are available should you need to catch up on any missed content.

For aspiring practitioners, playing voyeur and observing a Twitter chat is a great way of building knowledge on a brand or simply understanding who the big movers and shakers are; but by participating, practitioners are able to create equity and credibility for themselves within their industry, building on their own personal brand (which we all know is vital in the current media landscape). It's useful for making contacts, and whilst the virtual nature of the chat means you can't have post-discussion coffee and biscuits, there's no reason why you can't go on to have a thoughtful, informal discussion with a key journalist now they know who you are (and you've got some credibility).

Twitter chats are just beginning, and soon we will see businesses leveraging the benefits for sales and ROI.

The New Challenges of Segmentation

Understanding your publics is key to any campaign, and through segmentation, a practitioner can further understand who their messages will reach and how they will react.

Geodemographic segmentation assumes that the differences within any group are significantly less than differences between groups; individuals are grouped according to where they live and display characteristics to those within their neighbourhood or locality.

In the UK, there are, in particular, two popular tools used for geodemographic segmentation, ACORN and MOSAIC.

ACORN

ACORN stands for A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods, and is the leading tool for identifying the UK population's demand for products and services. It categorises postcodes using over 125 demographic statistics.

MOSAIC

Mosaic is owned by Experian, the credit report agency, and classifies the UK population into 15 main socio-economic groups; it bases its results on the predication that the world's cities share common patterns of residential segregation.

Through understanding consumer behaviour and segmenting customers accordingly, a practitioner can target and manage profitable relationships, ensuring a successful campaign and ROI. Such segmentation will also allow practitioners to identify and manage risk, an important consideration for any 21st century company. The tools will also identify investment opportunities for strategically responsible investors.

A rise in stakeholder activism and consumer generated content - social media - means a practitioner must also consider another form of segmentation - self-selecting publics. This is based on uses and gratification theory which assumes that people make highly intelligent choices about which messages require their attention and fulfil their needs. When passive consumption through watching TV was the norm, there was no alternative to dealing with PR and marketing; practitioners and marketers were able to execute campaigns relatively unchallenged because the channels didn't exist for individuals to say otherwise. The situation has reversed irrevocably, and as a result, consumers not only contribute to conversations but quite often run them. Today's consumer can choose what to be influenced by and, through online mediums, can have a range of different 'selves'. This provides a challenge for the practitioner, as segments 'cross-over' and the consumer ultimately chooses in which segment they belong. Practitioners must respond by remembering that humans are deeply social beings, and the corporate voice is no longer enough. Building and sustaining relationships is key, and that's where tools such as MOSAIC and ACORN come in handy.