Tony Robbins may have the most irritating voice I have ever heard. Thanks to my father, the motivational speaker's popular cassette tapes were the soundtrack to many a lengthy road trip. Outside of a bizarre and—to me—unnerving appearance in Shallow Hal I hadn't heard anything from or about this 90s quasi-celebrity since. That's changed now. Robbins is back and the resurgence is fueled by his ascension on Twitter. Robbins is one of many examples where those with already solid brands can use social media to further boost brand recognition or simply expand the reach of one's marketing.
Tony Robbins has 292 updates (159 of those coming last month alone); I have 1,785. Tony Robbins has 347,447 followers; I have 278. Amazing, right? How exactly did this happen? Whether by chance or design, Tony Robbins stumbled right into his past and present target markets.
While Twitter is obviously moving quickly towards the mainstream, it started with the thought leaders, those willing to be a little out there and interested in trying something different. Twitter is still heavily populated with people who either were or are very similar to the entrepreneurs who listened to his motivational talks when starting their own businesses more than a decade ago. Now he's stretching deep into this new market. For every Gary Vaynerchuk, Kevin Rose and Guy Kawasaki on Twitter, there are tens of thousands of people just looking to get their name, and their ideas, out there.
Robbins' approach to marketing via social media is certainly not flawless. While he has more than 300,000 followers, he follows less than 100 in return. His feed is by no means overly insightful or intriguing. But isn't that the beauty of it? He hasn't taken the best approach to his Twitter feed but simply creating one and showing a side of transparency has gotten his name out there again, and among people he'd most like for it to be in front of. Until seeing his Twitter feed and then writing this post, I'd never considered search out a Tony Robbins blog. Turns out it does exist. While I likely won't return, because the site can hardly be considered a blog, simply getting me there is a point for their side.
Going back, it's interesting how many companies' target markets are strikingly similar to heavy Twitter users. Because of this, it makes their marketing on Twitter amazingly effective. Dell is one of these companies. It's borderline astonishing how many Twitter feeds they have.
Their most popular feed, DellOutlet, has more than 300,000 followers. While the primary goal of the feed is to alert followers on deals on refurbished dell computers and electronics—thus driving direct sales—the feed is also very involved in interacting with followers. They have the ideal approach to Twitter. While pushing sales pitches to more than 300,000 people is incredibly valuable, the interaction with followers creates great public perception that makes those followers more likely to purchase.
Like Robbins, their target market has a solid base on Twitter. They sell computers and the cliche is to characterize anyone on Twitter as just a little bit 'nerdy.' So when you can reach 300,000 computer users instantly and frequently, why pour excessive dollars into television and print advertising? I'll be honest, after purchasing MLB.tv I've seriously considered never paying for TV again. And while their reasoning may not be the same, I know there are others out there just like myself.
In today's world, marketing using these 'scrappy' techniques just makes sense. It's cheap, if not free, and the effectiveness is much better than through traditional advertising methods. And as Dell and Tony Robbins show, it's not that hard.
Great post, Colin.
Folks...what are some other companies doing it right on Twitter?
Well said Colin. Gosh, you is smart!
Seriously, this is a really cool blog. I don't follow Tony and refuse to follow anyone who has a gazillion followers but yet will only follow like 6 people in return. It smacks of a certain self indulgency, plus I don't think it is smart marketing wise. I mean how many more people could Tony reach out to if he actually followed people. He probably would have double the number of people he has following him now, and he would seem so much cooler to alot of people. For example, Maria Shriver follows me. She probably has never read one of my tweets, but I do think it's cool saying "Maria Shriver follows me."
Just a thought.
Colin,
thanks for a great post! i agree, one of the true benefits of using social media like twitter is being interactive and "out there." but if you dont provide value no matter how many followers you've got i dont think it is quite effective, because it is so easy to ignore and tune out with so much information we come across on a daily basis.
ps. i think tony robbins is kinda cool. initially, i heard him on ted, and i liked his presentation:)