"Twitter is a bridge, not an island," said Jamie Michaels, head of brand strategy and advocacy for Twitter Canada, talking about the platform's real-time impact during his ClickZ Live keynote.
Shortly after British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted a picture of him speaking on the phone to President Obama, a comedian tweeted a selfie with the caption, “Hi guys, I’m on the line now too. Get me up to speed.” He was holding a tube of toothpaste as a phone, inspiring Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart to do the same with a can of wet wipes. Within hours, it was a global phenomenon, with everything from a baguette to a baby taking the place of the phone.
More than anything, the Cameron/Obama/Stewart connection demonstrates the global impact of Twitter, according to Jamie Michaels, head of brand strategy and advocacy at Twitter Canada. Delivering the keynote on day two of ClickZ Live Toronto, Michaels said that if advertisers use the platform well, their Tweets transcend 140 characters and create strong engagement in real-time.
“I think there is a hunger for this kind of in-the-moment excitement. People today are excited by that, the immediacy of it,” Michaels said. “It connects them to events; it connects them to people instantly.”
While Twitter is known for being the water cooler during big events, such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars, the platform is particularly powerful for smaller moments, Michaels said. For example, a Panamanian news station put beacons into the capital’s many potholes; every time someone drove over one, it would automatically send a tweet to the Department of Public Works.
Other examples include Jamie Oliver replying to a Scottish teen who accidentally sent a potential employer a file containing the celebrity chef’s chili recipe rather than her résumé and of course, The Dress.
Knowing how to leverage those target moments is what sets brands apart on the often-noisy platform. For example, because so many people tweet about their commutes – words like “annoying” and “packed” trend often, according to Michaels – Nokia UK created Vine videos that use the disappear feature to make buses look less crowded.
In another example of brand cleverly leveraging video on Twitter, Mountain Dew tweeted a series of GIFs showing a stream of soda as users scroll down.
“Twitter is super well-known for blowing up around these world events, but every day, there are moments when people are tweeting about brands, campaigns, prospecting, and moments of intent,” Michaels said, bringing up a quote from Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Group UK. Sutherland once said, “Brands don’t have target markets; they have target moments.”
