The New Twitter: Elon Musk, Change Management, and Marketing

With all the hype surrounding Elon taking over twitter, I was asked by several friends and colleagues my thoughts on the matter as I'm regularly involved with using social media and monitoring various digital marketing trends. So, here they are:

The fact that this is making such headlines is two-fold:

1. Elon Musk is now at the helm and is making it a private company rather than a public one. He's the richest man in the world currently, owner of Tesla, and the list goes on about him and what he does is often in the news.
2. No one likes change.

Now, anything else being discussed about Twitter can fall into those two categories.

Anything related to his decisions regarding changes at being at the helm fall under the first category... and anything else is the simple fact that no one likes change.

Twitter to me will always be a spinoff of a feature another social site from long ago and far away. That site was called Xanga, and the old feature that Xanga had was called Xanga Pulse. That feature allowed only 140 characters to quickly express a thought, and the code was the starting point for Twitter to initially begin. The person who had that original code? Biz Stone, one of the founders of Twitter.... but I digress.

So, let's answer some common questions...

I have concerns about Elon's management of Twitter, what should I do about using that platform for my marketing needs?

From a marketing perspective, it's no surprise that some companies are hitting the pause button on doing any advertising on Twitter. As a marketing guy, I would to. Not because of 'concerns due to executive management' changes, although it could be cited that way. I'd hit pause because the audience and the platform itself is currently in a state of flux and the dust of the transition needs to settle a bit.

Regardless of your personal opinion about Elon and his management style, the reality is the top influencers and users who utilize Twitter are either leaving the platform or are becoming very critical of how the changes being implemented impact them. This has prompted some top users to leave the platform in some cases. Other reasons folks are leaving is due to differences in people's opinions on what they define 'free speech'. In short, they disagree with how Elon defines it, and how he is implementing change at Twitter to align with his belief.

I remember when Xanga did some major changes, and not all for the best. It was a platform on the decline due to a variety of separate reasons. The top users, of which I was one, spent a lot of time with the leaders of that platform, trying to understand what direction they were going. The same could be said is happening with Twitter. The leadership is trying to address a platform that has been struggling to be profitable for some time. The good news about Twitter is that it's user base and brand is far more established than Xanga ever was, as it has become a part of the social media lexicon.

What about content and user moderation?

Working on Autisable.com with the Xanga team allowed me to learn more about content moderation and moderation in general of a group of people. Let's just say for the most part we can trace Twitter, and its employees and users, like you can trace the curve associated with change management.... like the following image:

At the time of this writing, most people dealing with Twitter in some ways are currently being resistant to change. They have or are quickly moving from shock and confusion to becoming angry. I suspect they will soon let go of this anxiety and frustration and become to understand the various changes and move on. How long this will take will depend on how quickly these changes will take place and are to being adopted by Twitter's users.

Should I use the Twitter Ad Platform?

Functionally speaking, the advertising platform of Twitter is clunky at best. The ability to target an audience is also a challenge and not as fluid as say, Facebook, or even LinkedIn. In short, it's not as competitive of an ad platform as the other major social media networks. Is it worth it to advertise on Twitter? My answer to that is, was it ever really worth it for you?

Bottom line when spending ad dollars to promote your business on any platform is the end result. It's only worth the ad spend if you have a decent return. My experience on this note? Twitter hasn't been worth it. Not necessarily due to the platform (as clunky as it is), but because most of the target audiences I needed to reach for myself, or my clients was primarily on other platforms. So, if the audience base, ie. the users of the platform, is in a state of flux about the platform itself...and you're utilizing ad spend on that platform... time to hit the pause button. At least until the dust settles so you know if your target audience remains on the platform. Look at your metrics to help you determine the best course of action for you and your business.

So, what of the subscription model?

Times are changing, and people are more apt to support platforms/influencers and businesses more with their dollars via subscriptions.

There are pros and cons to this, as the competition for subscription dollars is becoming more fierce - from streaming media to now social media.

But streaming services are discovering that even with subscriptions - you can add tiers of service with no-ad level of service, to ad-supported services... even with a paid subscription.

But with Twitter, if you can afford $8 per month... and your target audience is on the platform... do it. Now I understand small businesses may have a challenge in this area when first starting out... but if your audience is there and you're getting traction that helps with an improved ROI... do it.

Personally, I hope Twitter adopts a tier level of service, including Free and Paid Tiers. This allows people to utilize the platform at the free level, and with each tier more functionalities become available. The challenge with free usage is dealing with bots and fake accounts, which is why I think there is some serious consideration for the platform to become a pay-to-play one.... and verification becomes more of a standard with that change.

The verification of a person or business is important... and in many cases, necessary. The use of the credit card for the payment lets Twitter know immediately that you are an actual individual or business - willing to put money where your mouth is.

A by-product of the new verification process is that it holds users more accountable for their actions. They may end up thinking twice before posting something highly critical and/or negative - as now money is on the table. With the subscription model, there are expected to be updated rules as well. I'm sure there is a lot of focus on what will need to be done in this area as it impacts a lot of core functions that Twitter offers.

How can Twitter have more activity with less users?

Recently Musk reported increased activity, despite reports that cite over a million accounts being deactivated or suspended. Here's the link to this article from Markets Insider that dives into that subject a little more:

Musk says Twitter usage is 'at an all-time high,' but a report shows that more than 1 million accounts have been deactivated or suspended since his takeover (msn.com)

Of course, there will be an increase in usage on a platform recently taken over and no longer being publicly traded. People's curiosity is peaked, and the opportunity to see what's going on and to interact is still pretty easy to do. Also, people have their own opinions on each interaction and change Elon is engaging in. After all, Twitter is still relevant, and the news outlets know this... and the public is still interested in its success. Increase in usage is to be expected. How long that increased usage will happen is more of a 'wait and see' as things are still in a state of flux.

My personal thought regarding the article is that you have to look at the data much deeper than just having a number of users. The questions that need to be asked should relate more about the type of users Twitter deactivated or suspended. Were they bots? Were they individuals that violated community guidelines?

Sometimes trimming and/or removing accounts by updating standards may help with overall user experience. It also let's those at Twitter HQ as to what type of users provide the best experience on the platform.

Historically speaking, especially these past few years, being a user on Twitter meant that you had to have very thick skin - especially if you have strong opinions on a subject. Even increasing the number of characters per tweet so people can be clearer on their thought or idea may or may not helped - I don't have access to that data. But let's face it, Twitter is usually where people go first to get an initial sense of what public opinion may be.

So, what should I do with my Twitter account right now?

Keep it. Don't leave the platform. Still use it to share your content to help drive traffic to your website and to grow your audience. Just put a pause on ad spend, at least until some of the dust settles with all of the expected changes. Evaluate who your target audience is and see if they are still very active on Twitter.

In short, let the metrics of your marketing efforts help you decide the best course of action for you.

Let me know if you have any further questions or comments on this subject. Happy to answer as I'm able to.