How To Promote A Trending Topic
Now that there have been a handful of promoted trending topics on Twitter, I think it’s time for me to weigh in.
To start, I believe having a promoted trending topic in the first place is a too much like traditional media, in that it interrupts. Up until now, there was a part luck and part genius equation involved with going viral. Now that you can pay for these services via Twitter, I think it cheapens Twitter as a social media. The big guys are still able to throw cash around to grab your attention, rather than earn it. But if you are going to promote a trending topic, here is how to go about it.
One thing brands still need to keep in mind is that Twitter is a conversation. Throwing in “Toy Story 3” as a promoted trending topic does not sound natural. While I’ll cut Toy Story 3 slack for being the first to introduce a promoted trending topic (PTT), they should have tried promoting something relate-able to Toy Story on Twitter. Having Buzz Lightyear get some, well, “buzz” instead makes more sense than using “Toy Story 3” as the topic. Or start talking about others who are related in the making of the 3rd installment who happen to be interesting; anybody or anything, just not yourself will do. You wouldn’t tweet all day about yourself, unless you were a clueless large corporation that doesn’t know any better, so you should stay away from promoting yourself with a PTT.
Nike Soccer had a better approach with its promotion of the World Cup. Now we are reminded Nike Soccer: exists, shows an expertise in its area, and does not talk about themselves, but rather something bigger than them. Using an external event to talk about is the easiest way to jump in and start a PTT as a brand. When you talk about somebody or something else, you release your personality to spread amongst the Twitter viewers.
The latest PTT I’m seeing is for “HawthoRNe,” a show on TNT. @TNTWeKnowDrama released two promoted tweets.
Tweet #1 says: “Are you a new viewer of HawthoRNe starring @jadapsmith? Here’s what you missed in Season 1:http://cot.ag/bKQvlE”
Tweet #2 says: “An all-new episode of HawthoRNe starring @jadapsmith starts right now only on TNT. We Know Drama.#nowplaying http://cot.ag/9xK7sb”
Evaluation of Tweet #1: Rather than including Jada Pinkett Smith’s Twitter page (@jadapsmith), which has not been updated since August 12, 2009, just say she is a star (or the star) of the show. Now fans are going to click her page and see she is not the least bit interested in conversing on Twitter. If you can not get your team or the part of your team you are promoting online to tweet, well they you should reconsider the promotion with their name in the first place. Even faking it and having an updated page handled by an intern for TNT will be better than staring at a non-updated page; however, I do not recommend that as an overall strategy.
Evaluation of Tweet #2: Besides including Ms. Smith’s Twitter handle again, TNT does not need to reiterate “We Know Drama.” We already know that silly, it’s in your Twitter name: @TNTWeKnowDrama! While the first tweet was not time sensitive because it links me to all of Season 1 should I have (and I have) missed it, the second tweet is only valuable if I caught the tweet in time. While I may be hypercritical here, I think they could have used a link to show me where I could watch if I missed the latest episode, should that place exist online. So the re-written tweet might read: “Catch the latest episode of HawthoRNe right now (9PM ET) on TNT or watch it on TNT.tv after midnight.” This way, if I’m interested and in time, I watch now, or if not, I watch on my own time. Either way, TNT wins.
Before I end and while we are talking about TNT, what TNT should really be promoting is the trending topic #WeKnowDrama or even #IKnowDrama. Anybody can chime in and talk about people who know drama, including themselves. Just as people come up with clever ways of finishing sentences with the #IfSouljaBoyIsARapper topic, people would likely come up with some humorous responses to the topic. Just a thought for a TNT who #KnowsDrama but #DoesNotKnowItAll.
