Twitter was initially launched by Evan Williams and his colleagues as an online service for communication with friends and family. However, it has gradually evolved, and how Twitter can be used for conveying a large number of different messages whether personal, public, or commercial ones. While discussing Twitter’s benefits in TED video, Evan Williams mentioned that the growth of the online service was stimulated by the users who frequently offered different methods of Twitter’s use (Williams). And marketing managers can apply Twitter as a tool for communication with potential customers at various stages of product development or testing processes. By listening to Twitter users, it is possible to understand customer preferences, interests, and needs and use this understanding to improve product and service quality.
Implementation of Twitter can be efficient in many phases of new product creation, starting from marketing strategy development and ending with the introduction of the product to the market. The initial stage of marketing strategy design is the environmental analysis which helps to evaluate financial risks, organizational strengths and weaknesses, brand’s competitive position, and potential customers’ expectations and preferences (Kotler et al. 70). To create appropriate product values, the organization should be sensitive towards the changes in the cultural environment within the market and consider even the smallest shifts in customer preferences, tendencies, and competitors’ product representations.
At this stage, Summize, the specially designed search engine for Twitter, can help to evaluate customer interests and new-product expectations through the analysis of users’ comments on qualitatively proximate products and brands launched by the competitors. Although it can be misleading to take into account the interests of various customer groups and subjective individual opinions, the analysis of Twitter messages may help to understand the prevalent tendencies and trends, and their consideration may assist in fostering product success by avoiding the potential risks.
Prior to launching a new product, Twitter may help to test different concepts and ideas before the actual development of physical product versions. While taking into account potential consumers’ feedbacks on initial marketing ideas, a company can obtain an opportunity to develop products that would become most demanded. The indirect involvement of customers into the process of product development and customer-driven marketing strategies designed according to customer interests aim to improve the quality of service and increase product awareness (Kotler et al. 331). Moreover, constant communication with potential consumers may contribute to customer satisfaction through the integration of extra social values into brand’s or product’s image (Kotler et al. 343).
Twitter can be effectively implemented as an additional instrument for the promotion of items at various stages of the product life cycle. It can facilitate the product’s transition from the introduction stage to growth and maturity stages. Twitter can be used as a tool for building product awareness and customer attraction. And it is possible to say that a customer-driven marketing strategy mediated through online social service websites, such as Twitter, can support the attainment of sustainable growth, stable competitiveness, and profitability.
Works Cited
Kotler, Philip, Gary Armstrong, Valerie Trifts, and Peggy H. Cunningham. Principles Of Marketing, 9th Canadian Edition, Toronto: Pearson, 2013. Print.
Williams, Evan. “The Voice of Twitter Users.” TED Talks. Youtube. 2015. Video file. Web.