I’m trying out a little experiment in “social media” land. This time I’m using Twitter. I’ve created a game called Twittermethis. Get it? “Riddle me this?” From Batman… You got it.
Twittermethis is easy to play. You just follow @twittermethis on Twitter, wait for a question to be asked, and then be the first to answer it. Then you win! Usually the prize is $5.
So Jim, why do this? Because it’s fun, and well, it’s a good experiment in marketing on a new medium such as Twitter. This is not intended to be a business that profits. This is intended to see how many followers it can get with no marketing budget. So far, as of right now, it has 247 followers in about a week. Not bad. Watch the video below for more thoughts, and don’t forget to follow to win!
Think you can write good trivia questions? You can win $5! Check here.
While I balk at using Twittering for marketing, the fact that this doesn’t make money for anyone makes it okay. In my opinion, the only people who should make money out of twitter are the owners of twitter.com (and they’re not yet.) It somehow feels wrong to turn a community into a marketing machine. I, for one, will bail from Twitter if I sense the winds blowing in the marketing direction.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t make money. Far from it. I see Twitter as something more than just another Web 2.0 application. There’s a community building there, and I’d hate to see it turned into yet one more way for people to make money. Casually mentioning your products is okay. If people follow a person with products, then they have to expect those mentions. But out and out marketing on Twitter is an evil I don’t want to comprehend.
Just my devalued 2 cents.
@dogboi on Twitter
dOgBOi’s last blog post..Toluu Review
Wow everybody is talking about twitter, I have not tried it yet, it seems like a nice tool for Internet marketing and other things, I might give it a try now.
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Jim,
Could we match your prize with a free $5 phone card?
I like the light studio set up that you have in the background
-Brian
affiliate manager
Pingo.com
Great idea Jim! Wow… shows you how fast things move and how people need to jump on opportunities when they get a chance…
… last week I was thinking of ways to get the Twitterverse involved… and I thought of the exact same idea… my domain name was slightly different… but same idea. You beat me to it! Nice work. Good lesson for acting fast next time.
Anyhow great work. Just a quick response to dogboi… I agree… I don’t want to be advertised on Twitter… I’m already seeing it as far as people following everyone they can… to hopefully get the people they follow to either follow them… or click through to their URL.
But, the nice thing about Twitter is that if you don’t want to follow someone… you don’t have to follow them. All but that first follow notification… you only have to see what you want to see. So, even if there are some people marketing like crazy… just don’t follow them.
My 2 cents. Thanks again Jim.
- Trevor
Trevor Mauch’s last blog post..Facebook Chat – Just Another “Instant Message-Like†Application?
@dogboi, isn’t that really what good marketing is anyway? Building a community? You’re right, I don’t want to see Twitter get hit by marketers either. This isn’t that. This is fun and a social experiment.
@pingo, you can do better. You can come up with the question and sponsor it for that $5. Email it and the prize and we’ll take care of it.
@Trevor, Actually, I had bought the domain early in 2007 and registered the account on Twitter, but never used it until now. You have the best point… you can unfollow anyone, anytime.
I completely support original marketing experiments that add a sense of creativity into the medium… This is something anyone can learn from, not just the strategy but the open opportunity that is hiding in many online and offline community tools. If you don’t jump in and test your ideas… you will never know if it work or not, and what kind of result can you expect from it.
Great idea Jim…
Yours truly,
Luis Galarza
Internet Marketing For The Poor’s last blog post..Your Affiliates Want Landing Page Generators, Pop Ups or Fly Ins, or User Forums
Yep, it’s all about testing and experimenting. Thanks for stopping by.
This is a cool idea, I’m thinking more people will find ways to make money off of twitter in the future besides direct web traffic.
I’m working on a project myself.
I’m @waynesutton on twitter and I’m marketing on twitter too
What a great idea! This could easily be modified for contests, discounts, etc. Really a good approach for local businesses, sporting or social events, etc.
I just found a great squidoo article on twitter advertising i hope you all find interesting, http://www.squidoo.com/twitter-marketing-secrets