When Google Realtime Search ended in 2011, it was a clear sign of an impasse between the web giant and Twitter. Yet Google’s persistence in penetrating the social media market and Twitter’s relative lack of social media market share suggested that the two would one day be reunited.
Spoiler alert: They have been!
Through this partnership, tweets will appear in Google search results in real time. Users no longer have to travel through traditional Twitter search channels or seek out specific handles and hashtags. Instead, they can simply search “Kyle Gunby Twitter” (or “single and alone in the world”), and my tweets and account will appear.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s important to note that this partnership has only manifested itself in Google’s mobile app and browser, though we can expect to see an expanded rollout for desktop devices soon.
As content marketers, this is reason for celebration! Why?
Cross-pollination with Google isn’t the only movement happening within Twitter. The past few months have brought numerous changes to the social media machine that churns out more than 9,000 tweets per second.
Some of the changes that affect content marketers include:
These additions give brands entirely new channels for connecting with audiences. But how can you amplify that engagement?
According to a 2013 Gensler study on brand engagement, when online consumers connect with their favorite brand, only 14 percent do so through Twitter. This begs the question: What aren’t we doing to engage consumers on Twitter?
Gensler offers a guiding light: “To really engage, leverage the human moment.”
Twitter — despite being our social soapbox — has become inhuman!
Thankfully, by using some of Twitter’s new tools, we can reverse this trend through genuine, purposeful human engagement. Here are some tips to get started:
These tips may strike you as brand engagement on a micro scale, but that’s how the best brands become macro marketers.
How do you plan to leverage the “new” Twitter to amplify engagement?
When it comes to ideation, I love my 4th, 5th, and 6th thoughts. The first three are often contrived. Improvisational comedy is my art, Nelson Mandela is my hero, and Zooey Deschanel is my love.