When it comes to corporate Twitter accounts, big brands have been changing the game in connecting with their consumers. Twitter is second only to Facebook in popularity and often takes on a very different tone with its messaging and interactions. Brands like Chipotle, Denny’s, Wendy’s, and Netflix have all found great success by conforming to the algorithm and audience popular with this platform.
The Allure of Corporate Humor
Oftentimes, this content works because of its moderately incongruent schema. This is basically a fancy way of saying that people are most attracted to advertisements (and other content) that don’t completely align with their expectations but also don’t seem completely wrong.
For example, Chipotle finds this key balance between being relatable and shocking. In 2018, they tweeted out from their corporate account @Chipotletweets:
“Good morning to everyone, except people who take our Tabasco bottles.”
This tweet has over 100,000 favorites, 26,000 retweets, and almost 3,000 responses.
This is a successful example of using a corporate Twitter account to be self-aware and make jokes that their consumers can relate to. This makes your audience much more willing to share and interact with your content.
Providing a Dedicated Customer Service Channel
While embracing humor and relatability online is one way to help a brand seem more friendly, Twitter can also be extremely beneficial in the realm of customer service.
jetBlue’s Twitter account is not likened to Chipotle in its tone or messaging. However, they focus on customer service as a way to benefit their brand online, and it has been very successful for them. jetBlue stands out because of their unwavering dedication to customer support via Twitter. They readily admit to their mistakes, thank people for getting in touch, and offer solutions. Now, jetBlue has a team of trained customer service representatives who respond to people on Twitter rather than over the phone.
jetBlue has mastered using Twitter in a way that is most beneficial for them. They don’t have to be the funniest account or worry about going viral because they’ve cultivated a community in this space in which their customers can easily communicate with their customer service team.
Maintaining Personality Online
The environment on Twitter is fast-paced, which makes it perfect for connecting with your audience in an easy way. Finding your company’s tone is important in order to be consistent in your messaging, yet Twitter’s platform allows your business some room to be interactive in a new and unique way.
One Twitter marketing strategy is differentiating your brand’s personality from your competitors. For example, take General Electric: a company that you may not think would be suited for an online persona like that of Chipotle but has found a way to weave personality into their content. This personality does not embody viral corporate humor but rather something that works even better for their particular brand. They publish entertaining content that is related to their industry. They also don’t just promote themselves—they teach.
Your company account can be full of personality while still being helpful to your consumers. This will strengthen loyalty and brand image online and off.
The marketing opportunities on Twitter are unique—and that’s a good thing. You can leverage your business in the way you want to in order to best serve your customers and your brand. Twitter affords you the chance to see what strategy is best for you, whether it be increasing brand awareness through viral tweets or answering questions and concerns directly.
Cecelia LeBus
