Knowledgeistics

Although this post has little to do with the MR part of SMMR (Social Media Market Research), I came across a very creative use of a modern social media tool for marketing and decided to share.

The example is from the webcomic Questionable Content’s usage of Twitter. QC follows the lives of a group of friends in a manner similar to TV sitcoms. While it is common for authors, artists and other creative folks to have their own Twitter accounts, QC creator Jeph Jacques took a different path and made separate Twitter accounts for his fictional characters instead.

The result is that his audience is no longer limited to “experiencing” the characters’ banter in the comparatively traditional medium of his comics, but can now subscribe to them in the way most Twitter-folks are following their friends and family. They can now read the characters’ random thoughts and virtual conversations, adding a whole new dimension to the characters (making them a lot more “real”) and further strengthening the comic’s relationship with its audience.

Many companies and firms are currently using Twitter to pass news and updates about their products, but I can definitely see them extracting value from this strategy to create a very different online presence. Imagine Geico (or the Cave Men from Geico’s commercials) or Burger King’s mascot having their own pages where they posts random thoughts and share a quirky, funny and more human side with followers. Different from typical marketing efforts, this one is not intended to simply pass on directed messages about promotions and new initiatives, but instead have a lasting communication using humor and entertainment in ways similar to viral marketing. And of course, there is no reason why once these channels are made they cannot be used for passing on those messages about promotions and other deals periodically.

Furthermore, as Twitter and its supporting tools upgrade, it may become possible to easily list out the demographics and psychographics of your audience and use that for market research. And that, is how I’m tying all this back to SMMR.

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