Joel Lunenfeld of Twitter: Brands that are listening are doing great things

Joel Lunenfeld, Twitter VP of global brand strategies, took part as a speaker at the IAB MiXX Conference and Expo 2012 with a talk entitled Making Use of Collective Conversation: The Power of Being a Brand in Real Time.The executive noted in his address the speed with which brands connect with consumers via Twitter and the public’s immediate response to such ad campaigns, which obviously means huge benefits for advertisers.Technology is eliminating the barriers of time, space, language, politics and so much more, he said. Twitter lets people interact in a way that would not otherwise be possible – and they’re at it every day. With the result that “88% of Twitter users follow at least one brand, and that more than half of users follow six or more brands,” Lunenfield said.The executive said that 87 percent of users select “fun” and “entertainment” on the Twitter list as the main reason for following a brand. He said Twitter campaigns are more conversation than promotion and urged advertisers to think of them as “a canvas where you can paint some amazing stories.” Some 400 million tweets are sent every day, he said.To summarize, Lunenfeld said that 50 percent of Twitter fans use the platform while watching television, so that the creative use of hashtags on TV gets results. Brands that are listening are doing great things, he said.