Seminararbeit im Rahmen der Vorlesung Führung und Kommunikation

Twitter as a Communication Channel for Corporate Public Relations

Analysis of Twitter strategies

Eingereicht bei: Prof. Dr. Isabell M. Welpe

Betreuung der Arbeit: Dipl. Betriebsw. Timm O. Sprenger

Eingereicht von: Michael Maier

3037911

Technologie- und Managementorientierte

Betriebswirtschaftslehre

Treffauerstr.20

81373 München

maier.m@hotmail.de

Abgabetermin: 19. März 2010

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Ehrenwörtliche Erklärung

Ich erkläre hiermit ehrenwörtlich, dass ich die vorliegende wissenschaftliche Arbeit

selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst habe. Ich habe keine anderen als die

angegebenen Hilfsmittel und Quellen benutzt. Die wörtlich oder inhaltlich aus Quellen

jeglicher Art übernommenen Passagen habe ich in meiner Arbeit ausnahmslos als

solche kenntlich gemacht.

Ergänzender Abschnitt bei empirischen Arbeiten:

Ich habe in keiner Weise versucht, die Ergebnisse im Rahmen der empirischen

Erhebung oder an anderer Stelle zu beeinflussen. Die statistischen Analysen habe ich

nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen durchgeführt und die zugrundeliegenden Daten in

keiner Weise verändert, erweitert oder verkürzt. Gegebenenfalls an den Originaldaten

vorgenommene Modifikationen (z. B. Transformationen, Datenbereinigung) habe ich

ausnahmslos und in nachvollziehbarer Weise benannt und begründet.

Die Arbeit hat bisher nicht in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form oder auszugsweise dieser

oder einer anderen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegen.

München, 18. März 2010

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Table of contents

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................6

2. Overview of the Twitter behavior of German enterprises.............................................7

3. Analysis of different Twitter strategies .........................................................................9

3.1 News-orientated Twitter accounts ..........................................................................9

3.2 Advertisement/ special offer-orientated Twitter account .....................................11

3.3 Dialogue-orientated Twitter accounts ..................................................................13

3.4 Hybrid Twitter strategies ......................................................................................15

4. Summary of the results ................................................................................................17

5. Conclusion...................................................................................................................18

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List of tables

Table 1 - Summary of the Twitter strategies ...............................................................17

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List of figures

Figure 1 – Results of the analysis of the Twitter behavior of German companies ...........8

Figure 2 – External sources of news................................................................................10

Figure 3 – Topics of news ...............................................................................................10

Figure 4 – Topics of Lufthansa_DE tweets .....................................................................12

Figure 5 – Topics of Otto_DE tweets..............................................................................14

Figure 6 – Ways of communication in Twitter ...............................................................16

Figure 7 – Tweets of eBayDE .........................................................................................17

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1. Introduction

“What’s happening?” - a question that concerns many people using the micro-blogging

service Twitter. According to Czycholl (2009) Twitter has more than 30 million active

users around the world and more than 150.000 active users in Germany. Furthermore,

Zapata (2009) states that Twitter was the fastest-growing social network in 2007.

Schröder (2009) claims that Twitter grew by 406,7% within 3 months (December 2008

to February 2009) and thus became one of the 350 most popular websites of 2009 in

Germany. This huge growth and the great attention Twitters receives made corporations

being interested in social media.

Friederich (2009) finds that in 2009 63 per cent of international best-in-class companies

increased their spending on social media marketing. That is no big surprise given Jansen

and Zhang’s (2009) result that 19 per cent of all tweets (Twitter messages) mention an

organization or a brand. Furthermore, they report that 20 per cent of all brand tweets

mention a sentiment. Consequently, Twitter is a channel where people all around the

world communicate about products. Thus, Twitter is the window to a world where

brands are discussed (Zapata, 2009).

There are different ways for corporations to use microblogging services like Twitter. On

the one hand it can be used as an early warning system (Zapata, 2009) to identify

consumer preferences or even product deficits (Jansen & Zhang, 2009). Thus,

companies can make use of the customer feedback about their products and their

features. On the other hand Twitter as a communication system is the direct connection

between companies and their customers which probides a rapid and uncomplicated way

to communicate. Exactly what costumers want, a quick and direct way to the top

(Ziegler, 2009). Using this connection a corporation can gain as much trust as the little

shop in the neighborhood (Czycholl, 2009).

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Beyond more communication, 2009 showed that the newly generated trust even had an

influence on the shopping behavior of the costumers. According to Hwang (2009) 28

per cent of U.S. holiday shoppers have been influenced in their gift-buying decisions by

social media. Shoppers were most swayed by product reviews written by other

consumers. Thanks to promotions on Twitter, Dell has earned an estimated $6.5 million

in sales of PCs, accessories, and software (Reisinger, 2009).

Summarizing, companies can benefit from using Twitter. However, to benefit from this

development it is very important, for companies not to give the power over

communication away (Czychon, 2009). As Jansen and Zhang (2009) state,

microblogging is fluid and thus needs a constant and continual management. Regarding

the advantages of Twitter and other microblogging services the need for such a

continual management clearly arises but there is a limited amount of literature dealing

with such issues. Therefore, this paper examines different strategies for companies to

communicate via Twitter and points out the differences between these strategies. In the

next chapter shall be given a quick overview of the Twitter behavior of German

companies before in the third chapter the strategies are analyzed and illustrated by

existing examples. In the last the results are summarized and a recommendation as well

as a future outlook are given.

2. Overview of the Twitter behavior of German enterprises

Before discussing different Twitter strategies there has to be given a quick overview

over the Twitter behavior of German enterprises. According to Stumm (2009) in April

2009 only 6 of the 110 most famous German enterprises used Twitter actively to

communicate. Sometimes even agencies of huge companies in other countries try to

twitter more actively than their head offices in Germany. The German communication

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agency Zucker.Kommunikation GmbH analyzed the Twitter behavior of German

companies in 2009. The most important results of the analysis can be seen in Figure 1.

The average rates show that Twitter is not very popular in Germany yet (661 followers).

Additionally the companies do not “twitter” very often, which can be seen by an

average rate of 13 tweets a week. Most of the messages are sent out anonymously. The

majority (50 per cent) of the tweets are dialogue. This emphasizes the characteristics of

Twitter as a communication system. 32 per cent are news and with only 17 per cent

advertisements or special offers are the least present type of tweets.

Using those different types of Twitter messages the different strategies shall be

composed. The following analysis distinguishes between a dialogue-orientated, a news-

orientated and an advertisement/special offer-orientated Twitter channel. The

Figure 1. Results of the analysis of the Twitter behavior of German companies

Source: Own graphic according to Pfeiffer (2009)

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characteristics of the respective strategy are shown in chapter 3. According to Schwarz

(2009) where Twitter strategies are clustered into the above three types, the

Daimler_news channel is a good example for a news-orientated Twitter account,

Otto_de a good dialogue-orientated and Lufthansa_DE an exemplary version of an

advertisement/ special-offer Twitter channel. In the following the three strategies and

the respective examples are analyzed.

3. Analysis of different Twitter strategies

3.1 News-orientated Twitter accounts

During the analysis different categories of spread news could be separated. They can be

distinguished between news concerning products, the company, sponsored events, sales

and external opinions especially positive word of mouth. For the last category the

„repost“ function of Twitter is being used which means that tweets of other users

containing mostly friendly opinions are referred to. Most of the time this is the only

interaction between the corporate Twitter account and other Twitter users. This can be

seen in a dialogue percentage of 0% in the Daimler_news channel and 2,1% in the

channel of the Messe Frankfurt, another representative example for news-orientation.

Consequently the aim of only news-orientated Twitter channels might be to inform

people, to spread positive opinions and thus to create a positive image. A special

version of news-spreading can be seen by transportation companies like Deutsche Bahn

or Lufthansa who tell the Twitter community about delays or breakdowns.

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Event sponsorship;

28%

Product; 22% Corporate News; 22%

Sales; 17%

Ext. information;

5% Other; 6%

3.1.1 News using the example of Daimler_news.

The Daimler_news channel is one account of a whole Twitter portfolio of Daimler.

There is Daimler (dialog connected to events), Daimler BI (Business Innovation

community), Daimler Career (Human Ressources), Car2Go (project car2go),

Car2GoNA(project car2go north america) and Daimler news.

Daimler_news has over 1000 followers (people that have subscribed to the channel) and

spread 25 tweets from January 18th to January 25th, which more than the German

average. As you can see in Figure 2, 74 per cent of all tweets link to the global media

site of the Daimler company. Additionally, positive opinions are reposted and general

information on external homepages are referred to.

This shows the reduction of the communication to an informative level. The

information already exists (global media site) and is only connected to the Twitter

community. Furthermore you can see by the topic of the news in Figure 3 that the

company wants to promote its products or create a positive image by spreading news

about generous sponsoring activities or latest sales rates. The ratio between the different

Figure 2.. External sources of news Figure 3. Topic of news

Source: www.Twitter.com/Daimler_news

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topics of the news is nearly balanced (Figure 3). The fact that event sponsorship has the

highest rate came from an actual event during the week of the analysis. The account

appears like an automated information system. Twitter users do not really gain a surplus

from the news channel as the tweets do not spread unique information but refer to

existing. The fact that Daimler_news only reposts information that is already on the web

emphasizes the informative character. Additionally all the tweets are impersonal which

makes the account seem like a news-feed. The supporting role of the Twitter channel to

the Media Site and other instruments of communication can also be seen in Wolpers

(2009) where an author of Daimler_Career declares Twitter as an addition to the

established channels of communication.

The Daimler_news channel seems like a good example for a Twitter account that aims

to inform users about special Daimler topics. It provides latest sales information as well

as product, corporation info and of course tries to create a positive image. A user to

company interaction does not happen in this account but you can find dialogues and

more interactive parts in the other Daimler accounts.

3.2 Advertisement/ special offer-orientated Twitter accounts

During the analysis of advertisement/special offer orientated Twitter accounts two

different alternatives were found. The first alternative is more like a news channel that

provides a lot of product and special offer specific information. The tweets hereby are a

mixture of links to special offers in online shops, product advertisement, “offer of the

day“ or “special Twitter offers“, corporate information and sometimes, even

advertisements of partner products. Additionally, the companies try to attract attention

by posting links to raffles etc. Like in news orientated Twitter accounts there is nearly

no direct communication with the users. In fact this alternative seems like a news-

account that spreads specific offers instead of corporate information only.

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special offer; 36%

information; 29%

advertisement; 21%

partner ad; 7%

raffle; 7%

An example for the second alternative is the special Twitter outlet store of Dell. Dell

has special offers that only exist on the Twitter channel. Additionally the authors of the

online outlet talk actively to users who ask questions about the products. The whole

account seems like a real outlet store but it only exists in the Internet. The success of

this form of an online outlet can be seen in over 1,500,000 million followers of the

channel.

3.2.1 Special offers using the example of Lufthansa_DE.

A good example for an advertisement/special offer orientated Twitter account is the

channel of the German airline Lufthansa, Lufthansa_DE. The account has more than

20.000 followers and 14 tweets have been posted from January 18th to 24th. The tweets

of Lufthansa are a mixture of links to special offers, information and advertisement for

their own services as well as partner services. Thus this account is of the first

alternative. There are no special Twitter offers or any customer support. As you can see

in Figure 4 the focus of the tweets lies on special offers, information and advertisement.

The high percentage of information resulted from an extraordinary incident at Munich

airport center, the second important airport of Lufthansa. Here the users had been

provided with latest flight information.

Figure 4. Topics of LufthansaDE tweets Source: www.Twitter.com/Lufthansa_DE

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A smaller amount of 7 per cent each, are partner advertisements (SIXT car rental,

directly connected to the service of Lufthansa) and a linkage to a Lufthansa raffle. All

the posts in this channel link either to the Lufthansa webpage or to external web pages.

There is no real unique information, which supports the character of a special news

orientated Twitter account. The tweets are spread anonymously and there was no

approach of user interaction during the week of analysis. The fact that there is a direct

link to the Twitter account even at the first page of the Lufthansa Internet presence and

the benefit people can gain from the posted tweets ensure the popularity of this channel.

With over 20.000 users in March this Twitter accounts is one of the bigger german

corporate channels.

3.3 Dialogue-orientated Twitter accounts

The third alternative to be discussed, are dialogue-orientated corporate Twitter

accounts. The medium Twitter offers a bunch of instrument to interact. On the one hand

there might just be reposts of what other users wrote, which has already been used even

at informative channels like Daimler_news. On the other hand users can directly “talk“

to each other. By inserting the channel’s name with the @ at the front in a tweet, the

concerned user is informed about this quotation. A direct reply to this adressed tweet is

possible with one click. Thus is it very easy for users to communicate. Additionally, all

the other users can see this dialogue. This means that corporate accounts, which serve as

a customer service, can create a very costumer orientated image by solving problems

and helping customers to be satisfied. As the topics can be very special and company

specific this alternative of a corporate account are now illustrated by describing a very

interactive Twitter account.

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customer service; 27%

reply good wom; 26%

reply bad wom; 18%

community dialogue;

16%

information; 13%

3.3.1 Dialogue using the example of Otto_DE.

The account described in the following is owned by the big German catalog company

Otto. Otto_DE has more than 10.000 followers and tweeted 107 messages from January

11th to January 18th. Three authors who post their initials in every tweet control the

account. Thus it is obvious who is writing. This also leads to direct communication

between the customers and representatives of the company and not only to the

“company“ as a system.

In Figure 5 the categorization of the analyzed tweets of Otto_DE can be seen. The

greatest amount of tweets, are customer service, which means help with belated orders,

help with clothing sizes, questions about products etc. Second and third often tweets are

responds to spread word of mouth. Either users talk directly to Otto_DE or the authors

respond to posts, which are not directly addressed but do refer to the company. Replies

to good word of mouth mostly is just a nice “thank you“ which leads to a visibility of

the positive critic to all the users who have a look at the Otto_DE account. It is nearly

the same with replies to negative word of mouth. But here the authors try to solve

problems, which lead to a negative attitude towards the company. The rest of the tweets

are dialogue with the community, mostly about web 2.0 topics or just to show activity

and last but not least information like special offers. The authors of the account are also

Figure 5. Topics of Otto_DE tweets Source: www.Twitter.com/Otto_DE

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very active in the web 2.0 community and have also given several interviews about their

corporate Twitter strategy. In Wolpers (2009) one of the authors, Nils Kramer, told that

they see Twitter as a fast and spontaneous medium that offers new possibilities in the

dialogue to the customers. Furthermore he said it is important to combine it with the

classical ways of communication. In Eisenschmidt (2009) again Nils Kramer told that it

is important to react to criticism in Twitter as it shows that there is need for

improvement. He says that basically companies do not have to respond to anything that

is written but a clear advantage of Twitter is that they can read what is important to the

users. This statement supports the opinion of Zapata (2009) who saw Twitter as the

„window to a world where the brand is discussed“. The aim of Otto’s Twitter activity

can be derived from another interview with Nils Kramer in Graf (2009). He states that

Otto tries on the one hand to gain new customers and on the other hand offer current

clients another way to communicate with the company.

Otto also has two other accounts otto_jobs for recruitment and twoforfashion as an

informative news-channel.

3.4 Hybrid Twitter strategies

Consequently you can see that the special characteristics of Twitter as a quick

instrument of communication are completely exploited only by a dialogue orientated

Twitter strategy. Other alternatives do take the chances to spread information to the

mass but the whole potential can only be used if you offer user interaction like

dialogues, reposts and an active participation in the community.

Additionally a pure dialogue to the community might not always support higher sales, a

better image of the company or greater popularity. Furthermore it is necessary to inform

the people. This can be seen in successful news or special offer accounts like

Daimler_news, Lufthansa_DE or Delloutlet. Thus a good solution might be either to

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offer a portfolio of Twitter accounts where the company differentiates between certain

aims or to have a “mixed-account“ where you can find characteristics of all the different

strategies. In Figure 6 you can see the important aspects of communication in Twitter.

Besides the active parts of communication which have been described in this paper

Twitter always can be used to monitor user preferences and opinions of the

commonality towards a brand or a company.

3.4.1 eBayDE as a hybrid Twitter account

A good example for such a hybrid Twitter strategy is the account of the German office

of eBay. In Figure 7 you can see the mixture of the 19 tweets posted by the authors of

eBayDE from January 18th to January 22nd. The authors write personally, thus the user

again is in contact with a real person. The majority of the tweets are dialogue. Here you

can see that the company tries to use the opportunities Twitter offers. The success of the

account can be seen in a constant growth rate of eBayDE’s followers from 4000 in

January, 2010 to 4600 at the end of February, 2010.

Figure 6. Ways of communication in Twitter

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4. Summary of the results

Detail

Strategy Content Aim

News

- product + corporate information - no user interaction - special: delay information

- inform about products and company - create a positive image

Ad. / special offer

Alt. 1: linkage to special offers in online stores; advertisements Alt.2: Twitter specific online store

- gain new customers - inform existing customers - boost sales

Dialogue

- customer service - information (product and company) - trouble shooting (direct and indirect)

- gain new customers - inform - offer another way to communicate

Table 1. Summary of the Twitter strategies

Figure 7. Tweets of eBayDE Source: www.Twitter.com/eBayDE

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Summarizing the analysis there are different strategies with different aims. News-

orientated twitter channels are very good for informing but they do not really offer a

surplus value for the users beside the collection of information. Advertisement and

special offer-orientated Twitter accounts can, especially when they are used like the

second alternative, drive the sales and gain new customers. As Twitter is a mean of

communication for both parties, dialogue-orientated Twitter channels seize the potential

of this medium. Here companies have the chance to offer the customers another way for

direct communication.

5. Conclusion

The analysis showed that the huge potential Twitter offers for customer communication

can best be seized, by combining different strategies. Although Twitter is not very

popular in Germany yet, the huge growth and the ascending importance of social media

force companies to keep control over communication. Thus companies should not miss

the chances Twitter offers even though it does not reach the mass, yet. The analysis in

this paper is restricted to a few Twitter accounts. Nevertheless basic characteristics

could be illustrated by interesting examples of German corporate Twitter accounts. In

the future a detailed analysis of the consequences of these different strategies should be

examined. Therefore it is necessary to analyze a broad dataset in order to make qualified

statements about the long term influence of the Twitter behavior like driven sales or

improved brand images.

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References

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