AdAge and others covered the story of how Land Rover is planning to use Twitter.

Two things make this one unique.

First, Land Rover is including #hashtags ( #LRNY ) in their online and offline twitter marketing promotions. I guess you could say that #skittles was first to really do this as a brand marketing effort, but it sounds like Land Rover will take it further in terms of promoting the tags. While Land Rover is ‘pushing’ users to their tag, Skittles ‘pulled’ users with their Twiter search results page for their tag. My guess is that the Skittles strategy will be more effective but their brand is also better suited for that approach.

The second unique aspect (for a major brand) of Land Rover’s marketing on Twitter is that they are using Twittad as part of the campaign. Twittad is putting a twist on things by ‘partnering’ with existing Twitter users to leverage their followers. It sounds like they take over the users’ Twitter profile pages for a period of time and may send tweets to their followers and then the users are paid. It’s not immediately clear how the users are selected – for example, based on relevance to the topic or to maximize reach / minimize duplication, etc.

Land Rover is not likely to remain the only national marketer doing this for long, said James Eliason, CEO of Twittad, the Des Moines-based “social-media affinity network” Wunderman tapped to boost Land Rover’s launch.

Twittad may sound good at first, but it’ll be interesting to see how users respond. The model will almost certainly need to evolve in order to provide true, quantifiable value to their clients. Just because it’s inexpensive doesn’t mean it’s a good deal.

Twitter isn’t just about pushing products, promoting brands, or driving web site traffic. Progressive companies in every industry are using Twitter to enhance their ability to conduct research, engage with prospective customers, support existing clients, engage with users to help define next generation products and more. Ad Age published this short article about using Twitter as a focus group.

Anyone that doesn’t at least understand that Twitter has become a disruptive marketing tool should immediately stop reading this, start with some earlier posts and the articles they recommend.

Disruptive technologies, by definition, change the way people do things. In most cases, our the way we use these technologies evolves as we learn more about them and what we want to get out of them.

When we got our first Tivo, at first we only recorded a few shows. We’d watch them and delete them then wait for something else to be recorded. Then we realized that it would be great if there was always something to watch so we added more shows to record and let Tivo record its own ‘suggestions’. At first, we were overwhelmed. We were so used to watching and deleting shows that we felt like we couldn’t keep up anymore. It took a little while before we were ‘okay’ with not watching EVERYTHING that was on Tivo. Now, 8 years later, it’s totally natural.

The pattern evolves over time and varies depending on the individual and the benefit that they are hoping to get out of the technology.

So what does this have to do with Twitter? We’re only starting to see what’s possible. Even the early adopters are still evolving their usage of Twitter. The big question that came up recently in this New York Times article is whether or not it’s acceptable to use a ghostwriter for celebrity or corporate tweets.

Keeping a constant stream of tweets flowing to the followers of a brand (whether you’re a celebrity or a corporation) is crucial. Go dark for too long and you’ll never realize the full potential of Twitter. If you can’t do it yourself, a ghostwriter is definitely better than sporadic tweets. However, you’ve got two choices – either you have to be up-front and fess-up that the tweets are coming from multiple writers, or, you have to be darn sure that the ghostwriter is accurately representing your brand. Maybe you can’t write every tweet, but you or someone on your marketing or PR team should review them before they go out.

Keeping a constant flow of tweets is key and requires a separate post. We’ll get that up asap. Enjoy the Times article.

The WSJ posted an article about Guy Kawasaki’s keynote presentation at Search Engine Strategies in NY. During his presentation, he called Twitter “the most powerful marketing tool that I’ve seen since probably television.” He also talks about the value of retweets and using Retweetist to monitor them (claims that he uses it as his ‘scorecard’ and checks 5-10 times a day).

Undeniably. Tweamr will show you how.

Twitter is changing the way people communicate and search for information. While Steve Rubel might believe that Twitter is poised to jump the shark, we see it very differently. Twitter’s only scratching the surface in terms of reach and potential influence.

The model and tools will evolve, but Twitter has changed the game and is here to stay.

Tweamr is for marketers who want to leverage Twitter. Whether you represent a global corporations or your own business, a high-tech company or a coffee shop, Twitter provides huge opportunities and risks. Our goal is to share information about tools and best practices in order to maximize the opportunities and minimize the risks.

Twitter can be used for market research, customer support, public relations, lead generation, branding and more – but your efforts will almost certainly (and dramatically!) backfire  if you don’t follow (pun intended) the policies in this vibrant and rapidly growing community. That includes the spoken and ‘understood’ Twitter rules.

- Aaron