In early November,
Twitter rolled out its own version of ephemeral content: Fleets. Much like its counterparts Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, and Snapchat, Fleets disappear after 24 hours, which, according to Twitter executives, encourage users to tweet their
fleeting thoughts. There’s less pressure for users to post because the content will vanish the next day, anyway.
For users, it’s just another platform to post their strawberry toast breakfast. But for businesses, it’s a fresh opportunity to gain social capital. So here are a few strategies to leverage Fleets and win over new customers.
Show Behind-the-Scenes of Your Business
You don’t want your business to sound like a soulless corporation. The reason you created a Twitter account is to give your name a human face — an approachable persona that is within reach of your customers.
Fleets, like Instagram Stories, are the best way to project an approachable persona. Since Fleets disappear quickly, you don’t have to post polished, curated content. You can post the rowdy production process of an interview with a brand ambassador, for instance, or how your products are packaged in an assembly line. You can also post a short explainer of an unfamiliar but interesting topic that your business is involved in. For example, some coffee shops use Instagram stories to show how a cat cappuccino is crafted, effectively encouraging people to recreate them at home.
Enhance Employer Branding
You’re not just projecting a polished image to attract customers; you’re also doing it to attract promising talent. Plus, customers are more likely to patronize a brand that takes good care of its workers.
Use Fleets to post events and initiatives that enhance your employer branding. For instance, you can post clips of your rather chaotic team building or pool party. You can also re-post tweets from your employees or share photos highlighting your edge as an employer: top-of-the-line training,
cobot robots, and funky offices with brand-new nap pods, Pokemon planters, or a freshly restock company library.
Share Customer-Generated Content
One of the best ways to garner customer loyalty is to post the content they have generated. Before Fleets was rolled out, brands can’t simply retweet their customers’ content, even if they have great things to say, because of the permanent nature of tweets. Brands project a strictly curated image on their Twitter pages and retweeting random customers may not be effective.
In contrast, businesses can be a bit relaxed when posting on Fleets because of their ephemeral nature. Your business can post tweets of customers who had a wonderful experience with your products and services. You can post the look they made with your cosmetic products or the
charcoal ice cream they got from your dessert station.
Apart from affirming customer loyalty, posting customer-generated content also doubles as social proof. When it comes to decision-making, testimonials are more valuable to a prospect than a brand’s own tweets.
Report Live Events
Brands — and even users — barely post videos on their Twitter feeds. In fact, photo and video sharing aren’t big on Twitter. It’s still mainly used for short text content.
Fleets is bound to change that. Since brands have a little more freedom on Fleets, they can post videos of live events on their concerts or trade show booths. They can post snippets of their event speakers as they discuss the newest apps or videos of brand ambassadors demonstrating their products in real-time.
Announce Limited Offers
Limited-time offers are effective because they create a sense of urgency in the buyer. When a customer sees that they only have 24 hours to get a discount, they’re more likely to jump on the opportunity.
Fleets are the perfect platform to announce these limited offers. While tweeting about your promos would also send the message out effectively, it doesn’t create the same level of excitement as ephemeral content does.
Host Daily Giveaways
As with limited-time offers, Fleets are also an excellent platform for daily giveaways. This includes small product giveaways, discount coupons, 24-hour sales, and more. Fleets also create a sense of urgency, but its main advantage is that it’s not constrained by a character count limit.
If you want to announce a game for a product giveaway, you might have to post two or more tweets to explain the rules fully. This means you’d have to create a thread. But Twitter is an extremely fast-paced platform, and so the message delivery might be cut off, which could frustrate a user. You’d lose their interest immediately.
In contrast, Fleets can contain much more content than a tweet. Moreover, users can view a series of Fleets in succession, creating a seamless delivery of giveaway rules.
By making the most of Fleets, you maximize every opportunity to increase your brand exposure. And if you start plotting out strategies now, you will be poised to dominate Twitter come 2021.
