Marketing Strategy of LinkedIn and Twitter

In the ever-changing world of social media, we come across people who document every aspect of their lives and businesses that want to get their names out there. Two of these popular social networking services are LinkedIn and Twitter. Twitter focuses mainly on content, tweets, and topics, while LinkedIn is about companies and connections with people. Though, it might seem surprising that they implement different strategies and are utilized for various purposes. Let’s dive into the deep sea of social media and learn about the marketing strategies and SWOT analysis of LinkedIn and Twitter.

For starters, let’s have a look at the vision and mission statements of Twitter.

Mission Statement

Twitter’s mission statement is “to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly without barriers.”

This statement indicates that Twitter’s primary aim is the communication of the ideas of its users. With its global interconnectivity, Twitter encourages its users to share their ideas with the help of the several tools that the platform has.

Vision Statement

Twitter’s vision statement is “believing in free expression and the thought that every voice has the power to impact the world.”

This statement indicates that Twitter prioritizes the freedom of voice and creates an opportunity for people to speak freely. Twitter believes that every word, and every opinion matters, and every voice can potentially impact the world.

Now, it’s to dig deeper into the branding strategies that Twitter uses.

To do so, let’s analyze the following post from the company’s Instagram page:

This Instagram post is a tweet by a user named Aaron Griffith talking about bread. Griffith is connecting with others through a humorous post about the end piece of bread. This piece is so delicious to some that people have created nicknames like “end piece,” “heel,” or “butt.”

Aaron laughs about how he thinks that the end part is a separate part from the bread, yet he assures his kids otherwise. As we can see from the post, it has quite a lot of retweets and likes meaning that this might pertain to others as well.

This tweet connects with others and, in some sense, makes everyone, including Aaron, feel like they belong. Therefore, this can only mean one thing. Twitter belongs to the Everyman Brand Archetype.

So, what does Everyman Brand Archetype stand for?

Desire: Connection with others.

Aim: Fitting in and belonging.

Strategy: Befriending and appealing to ordinary people, as well as creating core values.

Here are the messaging levels of the Everyman.

Level One: Being lonely and alienating, experiencing an orphan-like feeling.

Level Two: Seeking affiliation, driven by the feeling of loneliness.

Level Three: Learning to connect and fit in, making friends, and accepting support.

Level Four: Becoming the humanitarian, realizing, and practicing for the dignity afforded to everyone despite their differences.

The Everyman Archetype is a promising identity for your brand if:

• Its product/service is commonly used every day.
• That differentiates positively from a high-priced luxury brand.
• It makes people feel like they belong.
• Its production has a moderate to low pricing.

Brand Archetypes. Why do we need them in practice?

Being a leader in the industry also requires proper branding and messaging tactics. Here I want to mention the importance of the branding based on the archetypes. Nike says “Just do it”. What do they want to tell us? They just emphasize the inner heroes inside of us.

Here it is, famous brands like Nike and their rivals Adidas have adopted branding tactics based on archetypes. And it’s up to you to dive in and learn better the following directions. We have written a book “8 steps to a complete archetypal branding” that shows you clear ways to reach your target and conquer their hearts immediately.  Just try archetypal branding on any of the brands you are working on.

Moving on, let’s do the SWOT Analysis of Twitter.

Strengths

Strong Branding: One of the critical strengths of Twitter is its brand value. The logo of a bird has become the ultimate attribute for attracting people and organizations from all parts of the world to become Twitter users.

Real-Time: Twitter is a significant source of real-time news and information, making it one of its kind. This makes Twitter one of the most efficient channels of communication that can significantly impact the organization and its strategies.

Market Value Criterion: Now more than ever, Twitter has become the parameter that people look at to determine the popularity and the market value of an organization.

Weaknesses

Limitations: One of the most significant weaknesses that Twitter has is about the follower and character limitations. The platform limits each tweet to 140 characters. Meanwhile, once people reach 2000 followers, Twitter limits the number of additional followers you can have.

Low Retention Rate: Twitter is facing a severe issue of retaining users. Its retention rate is about 45%, meaning that the company has difficulties keeping its users interested.

No Innovation: Another major problem for Twitter is that it fails to introduce novelty or exciting features to the public.

Opportunities

Support to Businesses: Twitter has an opportunity to grow by offering businesses marketing solutions, which will boost revenues. Since one of Twitter’s advantages is its vast outreach, this will certainly be a success.

Improvement in Customer Experience: One thing that Twitter can do to increase revenues is to make continuous improvements. With the use of big data analytics and investments, Twitter can provide a superior customer experience.

Threats

Profit Model: At the moment, Twitter does not have a specific profit model, which can lead to harmful results. Its revenue model has been unchanged for decades now, and many people call it “broken.”

Intense Competition: The number of players in the industry has been rising, putting downward pressure on the company’s profitability and overall sales.

Moving on, it’s time to analyze the segmentation strategy that Twitter uses.

To find out the target segment of Twitter, let’s watch the following commercial.

This commercial features a guy running on the road with a smartphone in his hands trying to explore the world and Twitter. We see that he is determined to find a way to explore but doesn’t know how. In this quest, he comes across a man willing to help him explore by clicking on the magnifying glass on Twitter.

In the explorer tab, he finds Candice Parker, a female basketball player. Consequently, the guy ambitiously continues to explore by scrolling down and coming across things that he likes. Each time he scrolls down, people appear next to him while he runs until he finally masters Twitter. In the end, they storm off for some snacks.

After analyzing the commercial, it becomes evident that Twitter has chosen the Actualizers segment to target.

So, who are Actualizers?

Lifestyle and Values:

Actualizers are a very determined target group. They are perfectionists and are successful in what they put their mind to. Actualizers are ambitious but poor risk-takers. They like to be in control of their life and devote themselves entirely to achieving what they want. Their work is not just a job for money but more like a career path.

Actualizers prioritize family and security above all else. Education and development are crucial for them and their kids, so they are determined to help their families achieve results. Health, nature, and culture are an essential part of their lives.

Shopping Preferences

Actualizers prefer premium brands and quality products. They are practical but sometimes like to treat themselves with things they don’t need. Planning shopping trips ahead are a part of their routines. Actualizers want to satisfy the shopping request of their kids since they are extremely family-oriented. Additionally, they try to keep up-to-date with fashion trends.

Interesting facts about the segment:

• They enjoy reading a lot of books, listening to good music and watching films about nature and the arts.
• Actualizers are environmentally conscious people who love learning about it and frequently use recycling facilities.
• Internet usage is limited to informative reading to stay up-to-day with the world.

Now, it’s time to switch gears and discuss the mission and vision statements of LinkedIn.

Mission Statement

LinkedIn’s mission statement is “to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.”

This statement indicates that the platform is specifically designed to create connections according to their interests and similar elements. LinkedIn’s mission is to be a professional community that brings together employers, job seekers, and teachers.

Vision Statement

LinkedIn’s vision statement is “to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.”

This statement indicates that LinkedIn focuses on its global presence. People from all over the world link together, which gives them access to every opportunity that LinkedIn provides. It positions itself as a leader when it comes to introducing emerging economic opportunities and making them accessible to its users.

Let’s move on to the branding strategies of LinkedIn.

For this purpose, let’s have a look at this Instagram post.

In this post, we see a courageous woman who believes that there is a world where there are no standards, where the beautiful gender cannot become something considered “too manly” and what’s more important is that there is no expression as “too manly.” In this post, we see Jessica, a crane operator who strives to prove that men and women can perform any job better together.

The way Jessica fights the boundaries society has created leads to only one conclusion. LinkedIn belongs to the Hero Brand Archetype.

So, what does Hero Brand Archetype stand for?

Desire: Proving one’s worth by courage

Aim: Making the world a better place

Strategy: Becoming as robust, powerful and competent as possible

Here are the messaging levels of the Hero.

Level One: Being abused and needed to defend and stand up for another.

Level Two: Becoming motivated, competent, and developing boundaries and mastery through competition and achievement.

Level Three: Serving others such as family or organization like a soldier on duty.

Level Four: Making a difference to the world using motivation, mastery, and competence.

The Hero is a promising identity for your brand if:

• Its product/service helps others do things at their best
• It has a competitor or opponent that it is willing to beat
• It has a product/service that will impact the world and make a difference.
• It addresses a social problem and urges people to step up their game.

Let’s now look at the SWOT Analysis of LinkedIn.

Strengths

Revenue Streams: One of LinkedIn’s significant strengths is its diversified revenue streams, which are achieved through three product lines: subscription plan, talent, and marketing solutions.

Strong Competitive Advantage: Unlike other social media platforms that are primarily used for entertainment purposes, LinkedIn has successfully differentiated itself by creating the world’s largest online professional network.

Acquisition by Microsoft: The acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft created various growth opportunities for the company. LinkedIn has the opportunity for monetization through individual and organization subscriptions and targeted advertising.

Weaknesses

Violation of Privacy: A major drawback for LinkedIn was the lawsuit that accused the company of hacking its users’ email accounts without permission. This created major havoc in people and severely impacted the company image.

Centralization: In LinkedIn, the decision making is centralized, which means that decisions need to be approved by officials. This leads to reduced efficiency and innovations.

Opportunities

Social Recruitment: Since the world is moving towards a more digitized approach, social recruiting is becoming a trend in the industry. Since LinkedIn has this feature, it creates a great potential to grow with the trend.

Video and Audio Calls: LinkedIn has an opportunity to integrate video and audio calls to make connections more comfortable and frequent.

Threats

Competition: Like Twitter, LinkedIn is faced with the threat of intense competition, which means that the company needs to stay alert with continuous innovation and growth opportunities.

Privacy: With the trend of social media privacy, people have become more conscious of user information protection. This might lead to an increase in staff costs, and if LinkedIn does not meet people’s expectations, it will eventually lose users.

Last but not least, let’s identify the segmentation strategies that LinkedIn uses.

To find out the target segment of LinkedIn, let’s watch the following commercial.

The commercial features people from different fields connecting through LinkedIn. People like women’s rights policy advocates, senior marketing managers, construction cost engineers, and fashion merchandisers connect with people and find opportunities through relationships, information, and continuous learning.

It shows that LinkedIn is a place for motivation where people can find valuable information and opportunities for their future growth.

Thus, after analyzing the commercial, I conclude that this kind of behavior is typical to people who belong to the Conscious Progressives segment.

So, who are Conscious Progressives?

Lifestyle and Values

Conscious progressives are curious, open-minded, and intellectual. They are continuously seeking for something new and informative. These people are impulsive, but make decisions based on facts. Conscious Progressives are practical so that they won’t spend money on unnecessary stuff.

Conscious Progressives are very sociable but would rather establish deeper friendships. They enjoy gathering with friends in bars or at home and would rather go for a football game with friends than read a book, even though they are excellent entertainers and enthusiastic readers.

Attitude to Shopping and Advertising

Since conscious progressives are practical, they love to look beyond the packaging of a product. According to the majority of Conscious Progressives, advertising should be relevant and intelligent to them. Thus, they prefer products whose functionality and image are in line with each other.

Here are some interesting facts about Conscious Progressives.

• Conscious Progressives prioritize education. Education and knowledge are their highest privileges, and according to them, success is driven by the brain rather than work.

• These people love intellectual talks about political and social issues, which makes them good debaters.

• Their primary media consumption is informational. The internet is a crucial aspect for them since it is something that enhances their worldview.

16 Personalities (why do you need them in your business?)

LinkedIn has a strong relationship with Conscious Progressives. They are the main customers of the latter. However, Conscious Progressive is still one of the 16 Personalities that you should get acquainted with in detail.      

All these types of clients are included in the book called “16 Personalities”, which will open a new Marketing world for you. This book will give you a key to the heart of your dream client. By recognizing all 16 Personalities, you will easily find a target customer that matches your brand, and of course by not wasting your money.

To conclude, LinkedIn and Twitter are well-known social media platforms that create various opportunities for people across the globe. Still, they differ to some extent when it comes to their marketing strategies. I hope this post provided some answers to the questions you had. For more similar posts, check out the home page of the site.