It’s been almost a year since the infamous rebrand of Twitter. Now that the dust seems to have settled, we thought it was time to review the new and, some would say, unimproved X social media platform. While some struggle to get over the name change, the important question brands are asking us is, in light of the changes and uncertain future – is it time to abandon this particular social platform in favour of pastures new, or is there life in the old bird yet?
The changes to the platform included more than a rebrand, some were temporary – with blue verified ticks coming and going, a brief dalliance with paying to be verified which didn’t work too well. Some are seemingly permanent with the addition of the community notes feature. Despite the changes, X is still ahead of its closest competitor Threads in terms of features. These include direct messaging, exploring via hashtags and a desktop app. It also has more users, so your potential audience is larger. However, it’s important to evaluate how engaged your audience is on any platform. Just because they have accounts, doesn’t mean they use them. If you’re still seeing strong engagement, interaction, and positive feedback it indicates that your audience values your presence there.
Whatever your business, a key place to start, is a thorough assessment of your marketing goals, target audience and previous return on investment. You can use this to work out whether X still has a place within your marketing mix, or whether it’s time to explore new options. As marketers, we must always play close attention to return on investment. Is what you’re spending with the platform helping you hit your business objectives, such as increased brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, or sales? A thorough analysis of these metrics can help you decide which platforms work for you.
The future of X seems a little uncertain, but Elon Musk is keen to turn it into a so-called “everything app” like WeChat, which is popular in China. On this app people can chat to their friends at the same time as purchasing goods – this could potentially pay off for brands with clear product offerings, but Musk has been struggling to add this important purchasing feature into his traditionally social media only platform.
Whatever happens in the future of social media, we would always advise clients not to be too heavily reliant on any platform. We constantly monitor and evaluate all the campaigns we run, tweaking, and improving them as needed to get our clients messages seen and interacted with by as many of the right people as possible. If you can, seek feedback from your audience about what their preferences are. We’ve found running focus groups to be incredible valuable to a client’s decision-making process. In many cases, abandoning a social media platform entirely may not be necessary. Instead, we can help brands to adapt their strategies to accommodate platform changes, refocus their efforts on platforms that align with their goals, and diversify their social media presence. With our help, our clients can remain agile and responsive to the evolving social media landscape to maintain an effective and relevant marketing mix.
