DMO Ranking on Twitter – May 09
While the buzz about Twitter is not seeming to slow down I think all of us that have been using Twitter for a while (personally or for an organization) have seen huge changes in how Twitter users are responding to more and more brands trying to use the tool. In a nutshell: things are not getting easier and many Twitter users are starting to get annoyed by all the marketing messages that are starting to take over and pushing conversations of “real people” in the background.
Our list of US/CA tourism organizations that have a presence on Twitter has grown to over 300. More than 70 destination accounts have over 1,000 followers. Here are the details (and as usual we used Twitter Grader on the last day of the month -in this case May 31st – for the ranking):
Since the end of May we found several new destinations using Twitter but as usual we rely on your feedback to complete our list.
We would also love to hear if anybody else is seeing Twitter and reactions from Twitter users change. If so, how?
June 11th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Another nice post Martin.
As you know, tourism pros just love this type of competitive snapshot. Plus it is an Excel file! The perfect storm to create a popular post.
Anyway, your question about consumers withdrawing from Twitter, I would agree.
From my perspective, it follows the pattern of technology adoption in the general public.
Take email. When people first signed up for an AOL account, consumers were falling over themselves to sign up for anything and everything that would cause the ‘You’ve got mail’ sound to go off.
‘Honey, I just got another email!!…Amazing technology, this America Online.’
Fast-forward a couple years and email is not so amazing, and much more annoying. The inbox is a private space and we protect it like a junk yard dog…deleting anything that says ‘free’ in the subject line, screaming in anger if a company sends us more than one email a week and wondering why I am getting emails from Lands End! (Um, you ordered something from them)
Twitter is following the same pattern. New, amazing, only 140 characters! Quick, follow anyone and everyone you can.
Now, the general public is beginning to come to the realization that Twitter was not built so that you could follow the ramblings of every man, woman and child in America.
It was built to keep in touch with friends, family and subjects that you are interested in.
As a CVB, DMO, airline or hotel if your tweets, message and interaction on Twitter do not fall into that final category, expect to see your follower count go down.
- Troy
June 25th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Great analysis. One question though: Accounts are listed multiple times on occasion, which therefore changes the overall ranking numbers. Is that a problem that is going to be corrected?
Thanks,
Celestino Ruffini @VisitGalena
Galena/Jo Daviess County CVB
July 6th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I have to agree with Troy that i look forward to this list every month and start immediately checking after the 1st of the month. There truly is a competitive spirit among tourism entities and I find the twitterverse to be a place where a small organization can make themselves stand out.
With the increased influx of tourism entities jumping on board, I find i need to be even more careful about not crossing the line between pushy and helpful.
My most successful campaigns have been when I find a connection with someone to either have a lot of fun with them, or be helpful with tips that go beyond the usual stay here, go see this attraction. When I help them find true insider deals or little known secrets is when i get the most positive responses.
All that being said, there’s that ever present nagging doubt…is the return equal to the amount of time invested? For the time being the answer is yes, but as the competition increases, I wonder if that will hold true.