Twitter gains better footing

London Olympics meant numerous tweets floating on the Internet galaxy not only signified its popularity score but also its ability to take into its stride brand advertising strategies. Google may have initially taken its first footsteps by leveraging on the direct response ads made by numerous small companies, meanwhile Twitter captured attention on the back of major brands. However, London Olympics presented itself as a golden opportunity for Twitter to project itself as a new medium.

Lessons learnt

Twitter seemed to have tasted blood with its early experiments with big brands like PepsiCo, which spent $640 million in 2011 on marketing, according to Kantar Media. Reportedly, on the basis of data from Twitter chatter, it was planned to use Twitter as a centerpiece for a massive rebranding campaign, namely 'Live for Now'.

As the curtains raised on the most awaited campaign, Pepsi rolled out a series of music videos on its Twitter page. This led to artists being discussed on Twitter and streams of downloads. Reportedly, the company also paid Twitter to boost the reach of 'promoted tweets', which in turn reflected led to a catchment of 68 million impressions in one day in terms of attention seeking. According to market research reports about 24% users who went to Pepsi's tweets either replied or helped broadcast the tweets.

Transformation

Twitter's transformation tale from a start-up to a media site with power to reckon with is one that is of envy for many while inspiration to others. Again during London Olympics, its deal NBC ensured tweets from athletes and other content that complement the TV broadcasts. Meanwhile, its Olympic story has its own experiences to forget too. The company faced the heat for reportedly banning a British journalist who was critical for NBC and also tweeted an executive's email address. Later, Twitter apologized and reinstated the account.

All said and done, the London Olympics was a golden chapter for Twitter indeed!