Staying Alive in the 905

THE SAGA CONTINUES….

HOW MANY TWEETS WOULD YOU TWEET IF TWITTERING TWEETS WOULD GET YOU A COFFEE MACHINE?

It seems my posts last week about the  Bosch/Kraft Tassimo promotion were actually read by some people.  Remember how I said that it seemed the online Twitter community was much like a real community and I felt left out?  (It did seem like the machines were first awarded to established bloggers. This could be because they are so active on Twitter that they knew about it first) I became very cynical after reading so many tweets.  Then I learned about the contest.  If Twitter users first followed @TassimoCanada and then tweeted about the brand they might win a Tassimo.  Hundreds of Twitter users set out to receive one. 

I think there was some truth to my statement about online communities resembling real communities.   Someone on Twitter, who I do not know, felt sorry for me and began to tweet for me to receive one also.  A couple of her followers did the same.  That was very kind.  There are good people everywhere – both in face to face and online communities.  Thank you @marcyberg for trying to get a Tassimo machine for me.  Thanks also to @blueskies29, @LydiaFernandes and @oceansj who tweeted on my behalf.

Please know this was not my intent – to somehow attract enough attention to receive a Tassimo by being cynical. 

 I then decided if you can’t beat em, join em! I decided to see if I could receive a Tassimo in their Twitter give-a-way without tweeting ad nauseum on their behalf.  I am following @TassimoCanada and I did mention the brand in some tweets. 

If I do receive one of these machines I will take it to my social media class and brew up some quick and easy beverages for all 20 students and our esteemed instructor, Martin Waxman.  Then I know  a couple of non-profit places that may like to have such a machine in their staff room and I would make it a donation to them.  I would even buy pods/discs for them.

This experience has inspired me to learn more about how companies use Twitter and to gather the stats re the Tassimo promotion on Twitter.  Perhaps it’s no different from a phone-in or mail-in contest except now we can see everyone who enters and how often they enter.  We also see all the thank you tweets and all tweets of praise.  Will we always be so willing to tweet and RT (retweet) on behalf of a company for a give-a-way product?

 Looking back over the past month @TassimoCanada produced 15 tweets on nine different days.  They only tweeted nine days in one month but asked for others to follow them and mention them.  They were successful.

 When I did a Twitter search I saw amazing results.  Early this week there were enough tweets mentioning @TassimoCanada  in five days to fill 100 pages on www.search.twitter.com .  This search site stops at 100 pages of 15 tweets per page.  So in 5 days there were 1,500 tweets – most asking for a Tassimo coffee machine.  This could mean that the company is mentioned in 3,500 tweets or more since the Smart Talk event on November 7. That’s what I call a big return on investment for Tassimo’s original 15 tweets. 

When I checked www.twittercounter.com I saw that TassimoCanada joined Twitter on Sept. 25, 2009.  twittercounter shows that as of Nov. 20 (today) Tassimo Canada has 1,801 followers and is following 438. If they follow you,  your chance of receiving a machine is greatly improved.

Bosch and/or Kraft is giving away a multitude of machines( I think 300).These are in addition to those already given out at the November 7 event in Toronto. They have invested in this promotion in terms of product but are relying on Twitter users to spread the word. It is a great freebie – worth $160 to $200, depending on the retailer.  It could be argued that in return for giving away a premium prize the Tassimo company is justified in asking for lots of mentions.  

One thing is certain – sales of the beverage pods will rise.  Everyone who received a free machine will be buying the pods.  Is this the new way to advertise?  Will we see many more campaigns like this?

Maybe I should have joined the chorus sooner.  I’m not sure.  I have learned through this experience that Twitter can be whatever we want it to be.  We can follow those individuals and companies who give us the information we want.  For me, that is information about events, social media, blogs, news, health, public relations, entertainment and travel. 

Henceforth, if I feel bombarded by endless product promo and sharing of successful give-a-way procurement I will adjust whom I follow.  I won’t criticize those who are participating.  I felt very “tweepish” after doing so.  This also resulted in some justified payback. 

I have no desire to get into any more twisticuffs.  I should not have mentioned specific tweeters by name in my protest tweets. As I prepare this post I see that many people have received the latest installment of Tassimo machines and are once again gushing.  I’m ignoring it.  Meanwhile, it doesn’t look good for this tweeter to receive one – they are not following me.  Perhaps this chapter is almost closed.  Am I finissimo with Tassimo?

What do you think?  Would you multiple tweet for a company in order to receive a prize or give-a-way?  I’ve learned never to say never.

What do people at advertising agencies think?  It doesn’t cost much to run a promotion on Twitter.  I see that Tassimo also has some new print ads in addition to the Twitter promotion. 

For an objective review of this “on-demand” coffee machine visit Bargainista’s blog. This was the first blog I ever bookmarked on my home computer two years ago and it remains my favourite.  The creator, Eden Spodek, passes on information about sales, discounts and writes unbiased product reviews.  I find we have similar expectations regarding customer service.

I do want to congratulate all who received a Tassimo on demand coffee machine.  Cheers!