Twitter as a Direct Response Channel

By Hilary Baar

Yes, Twitter is now main stream.  When I first learned about Twitter at DMAW’s New Media conference two years ago from Geoff Livingston, I had no idea how it would be used.  The day after the conference, I dutifully went back to my office and signed up for a Twitter account.  And, that’s where it stopped for two years.  Then, one day I wanted to follow the UT vs. LSU college baseball World Series game.  I wondered if there was a Twitter update of the score – and there was.  Then, I found out that my favorite frozen custard shop, the Dairy Godmother, twittered the all-important flavor of the day.  Following these two tweets started to get me hooked.  I love the immediacy and brevity of the tweets – and most importantly, the relevancy.  But, one Saturday morning, my opinion of Twitter was changed forever because I finally saw the potential.  On that Saturday, the Dairy Godmother had twittered a special of the day (chicken salad in a waffle cone; sounds strange but extremely yummy).  We got our cone and all of a sudden a woman came rushing through the door – her immediate question “do you still have the chicken salad specials?”  Wow, now that is direct response.

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Hilary is an Account Director at The Lukens Company and member of  the Direct Marketing Association of Washington