Is It Time to Bury the Bird?

Welcome to Monday Marketing Briefing, where the week begins with a quick jog through the marketing world. Stick on the kettle, grab a chair, and enjoy the latest news, insights, and opinions (all of which are my own).

...Aaaand we're back. Phew! Between a bout of burnout and a bumpy year in the ol' personal life, I wasn't sure we'd ever get to spend Monday morning together again. But here we are, and it's good to be back!

On a serious note, thanks for your patience - and for the very kind messages asking after MMB's return. Better late than never, right?

Since we last sat down together, a lot's happened: generative AI's exploded in popularity (we'll get to that next week), the Barbie movie gave us all a masterclass in marketing (and bandwagon hopping), and Instagram sent us all blinking into a confusingly familiar light with the release of Threads.

Oh, and then there's the other thing with the other social media platform. That's something we really need to talk about...

"Is Twitter dead now?" I asked myself for the hundredth time this decade.

I had, once again, gone to click on the new 'X' logo thinking it would close an embedded window. Instead it took me to the resting place of one of the OG social media titans - and I have to confess, I barely recognised the place.

While many people are asking the question so they can have an opinion on the platform they (used to) love to hate, I'm admittedly more bothered by the answer as a marketer than a user.

Over the last couple of years, a creeping doubt has me wondering about Twitter's effectiveness in a B2B social media marketing strategy. Historically, Twitter has been a useful channel for engaging with businesses during in-person events (convincing reps to come to our stand and speak to our team - which genuinely worked), generating networking leads, and demonstrating the company's knowledge. But things have changed.

While B2C can continue to meet their customers on the platform, B2B marketers must contend with the reality that most other business Twitter accounts are run by other marketers. That certainly makes it difficult to generate worthwhile leads when the people on the other side of the screen have the same intention - and the same (or lack of) buying power.

This is usually softened by the pros of engaging with influencers who drive relevant conversations. But what happens when they start to drift from the platform? Worryingly, I can already tell you from experience. We're used to engaging with attendees at events such as Microsoft Inspire using Twitter, but this year especially we've seen a sizeable drop in the number of individual users in influential roles taking the time to tweet. One particular event had nobody tweeting - no mentions, no hashtags, no presence - confining networking to the physical venue, which is a strange feeling in a digital-heavy world.

While there's definitely a case for the you-know-what turning live events on their head impacting how people engage, a lot of these changes feel like the shockwaves emanating from Elon Musk's audacious purchasing of the platform. Even before he decided to off Larry the Bird and carve a big 'X' into the brand, personal politics had started to come into play, with celebrities leaving for pastures new and other users simply not logging in so much. Without the right active audience, we're struggling more than ever to find a place in our strategy for what was previously a mainstay.

So, what do we do? Granted, there's still LinkedIn (and Reddit for B2B marketers looking to engage with technical audiences), but the pool for realistic B2B success on social media seems to be shrinking every day. B2C remains the de facto monarch of TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, while Threads - though quiet - is not quite where it needs to be to give B2B marketers a value similar to Twitter just yet. There's space to make each of these channels work for the brand through some creative thinking, but the investment to build a presence versus the potential return isn't skewed in our favour.

We certainly have a decision to make when it comes to the future of our social media, and it's one I'll be seriously considering for our department over the next few weeks. Could we be reinvesting the time and effort given to Twitter into other activities? Is it time - for real now - to bury the bird once and for all?

And hey, maybe the 'everything app' Elon has planned will change the game all over again. We'll just have to wait and see.

Advertising behemoth Omnicom Media Group names Laura Fenton as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its UK division.

In an embarrassing twist, it turns out Google Sites aren't ideal for SEO purposes.

Five companies that made almost 2 million marketing calls targeting vulnerable people have been fined ￡590,000.

The Chartered Institute of Marketers (CIM) are now accepting applications from students around the globe to enter this year's The Pitch.

I love Halloween and everything Halloween related - and if their early campaign is anything to go by, so does the Bacardí team.

ITV's Chief Executive has cited the lagging UK economy for broadcasters' advertising woes.

In this new segment, I'll be looking at the tools and tips that belong in every marketer's toolbox.

What is it? Miro, a digital whiteboard

Who is it for? Anybody with lots of ideas and not enough wall space for a real-life whiteboard big enough to fit them all on. Also great for visual thinkers and anybody needing to collaborate remotely.

Why does it belong in the toolbox? Aside from its simplicity, integrations, and compatibility with my need to visualise, Miro now benefits from AI capabilities, making it an even more valuable presence at your next marketing planning session.

What do I use it for? So many things. I've used Miro to explain concepts to colleagues, map out automation, collaborate on content planning, define a new website structure...the list goes on and on.

In another new segment (I know, really shaking things up), I'm putting some hot debates on the table for us all to ponder together.

This week's debate? Budgets.

Next's CEO has revealed that their marketing budgets are set at a hurdle rate - if they don't make ￡1.50 on every ￡1 spent on marketing, the budget is reduced.

So, what do you think? Is this clever budget management or a recipe for under-resourcing? Have your say in the comments.

Autumn is the perfect time to get cosy with WordPress and refresh the website - which is going to be my focus for the week. Plus, we'll be looking at more ways to automate our existing processes - and we're finishing our prep for Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Have a great week!