Twitip, Twittir, Twittersphere, Twiturls, Twitturly; what do they have in common? Well, these are websites created to promote Twitter and take advantage of Twitter’s popularity. This is not surprising considering the attention that Twitter is getting. Moreover, Twitter has become one of the most recognizable brands online so people tend to associate their brands with it. But what happens if, the unlikely occurs; Twitter fails!
When Blogrush and Entrecard were launched, they were all over the blogosphere. Soon after, blogs and websites about them appeared like mushrooms. Unfortunately, Blogrush and Entrecard’s hype didn’t last. Blogrush shut down operation a few months after their launch while Entrecard is now struggling to keep itself afloat. Along with the failure of Blogrush and Entrecard, websites and blogs created for them went down as well.
Twitter And Brand Association
Brand Association is linking your brand to imagery that can further enhance your brand. These could be in the form of expressions, attitudes, qualities, meanings, people or even other brands. But does it benefit a blog or a website if it associates its brand to an already established and popular name like Twitter?
Obviously, there are tons of incentives to associate one’s brand to existing established brands like Twitter. Twitip for instance, a blog created by Darren Rowse, is getting lots of traffic mostly from Twitter users who are searching for tips on how they can use Twitter more effectively. And with the huge number of Twitter users, I’m sure Darren will get a huge number of followers.
The Problem With Associating Your Brand With Twitter
If I ask you to name benefits of associating your brand with Twitter, you’ll probably come up with a myriad of benefits. But here are 3 reasons I come up with that you might want to consider before you jump on the bandwagon. For purposes of illustration, I’ll be using Twitip to demonstrate my points.
1. Limited Opportunity
Twitip’s success hinges on Twitter’s success. Simply put, no one will read Twitip if there is no need to learn tips and tricks to use Twitter more effectively. The need depends on the ability of Twitter to keep itself relevant and useful, which consequently limits the potentials of Twitip. In other word, Twitip can’t grow on it’s own without Twitter. And Twitip can never outgrow the users or Twitter. Moreover, if Twitter fails, Twitip is most certainly going down as well.
While you can argue that websites like Twitterholic and ReTweetRank fill in the gap where Twitter fails to satisfy some of the needs of Twitter users, it can’t be at all a safe answer. What will happen to them if Twitter decides to fill in the gap themselves.
2. More Tasks
Since Twitip’s success hinges on Twitter’s success, Darren needs to promote both Twitter and Twitip. This makes the entire promotion of Twitip even more difficult. And, if Darren were to target non Twitter users to read his Twitip blog, he needs to market Twitter to them first before he can convince them to read Twitip.
As Twitter becomes even more popular, there will be more online entrepreneurs who will build their business around Twitter, hence, associating their brands with it. Twitip started big because Darren already has the resources. But if Darren were to start it from scratch, it would be difficult for him to stand out. Why? Pretty simple. There are already tons of blogs devoted to Twitter that means, competition is tough. And with a very limited topic like Twitter, the competition becomes even fiercer.
3. Independent Branding Is Difficult
Twitip will never be an independent brand it will always be associated with Twitter because in the first place it’s all about Twitter. Well, I’m not sure if Darren is happy about that, but for sure I’d want my own brand to be a brand on its own. I think that the worse part of Twitip is that it reminds people of Twitter but Twitter won’t probably remind people of Twitip. That’s the difference of being a dependent brand and being an independent brand.
What do you think? Will you ever associate your own brand on a popular and well-established brand? Share your thoughts in the comment!
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