Feds Tweet Federal Budget

Efforts by Canada’s Department of Finance’s to adopt Twitter into its social media marketing campaign failed. But recovered in time for Friday March 4 big media announcement. Today (Friday, March 4) the department will Tweet to their followers Canada’s new federal budget. For those who don’t know about Tweets or Twitter, Twitter is, according to Wikipedia, a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers.

Advance media coverage for Dept. of Finance’s budget began Feb. 25 when the department announced it would Tweet the budget. Potentially distracting Canadians into thinking all is good with their federal finances. We’ll find out today when the agency begins budget Tweets. “Our government wants to reach out to inform Canadians of actions we are taking to support the economy,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a statement. “Using social media will bring our message to Canadians in a new, cost-effective and convenient way.” Within hours a phony Twitter account launched promising Canadians sneak peeks at the upcoming budget. Budgets are top secret deals until presented to parliament.

Twitter, a successful super fast start-up, was contacted. The company shutdown the fake account then added their new ‘Verified’ title to Dept. of Finance account inform users the Twitter account is authentic. Interestingly, no one at Department of Finance thought to contact Twitter in advance. To ensure their launch went smoothly. Given the impressive amount of positive media a quick message to Twitter HQ would’ve prevented problems.

It’s an incredible feat to Tweet something as complex as a federal budget. Tweets are limited to 140 characters.

Twitter, like many great social media sites, is fun and easy way to promote yourself, company or product. Though easy to use, integrating Twitter into your marketing agenda requires professional planning. Or it could easily fail like Department of Finance initial foray. Besides promotion, Twitter is an excellent source for creating backlinks to your website. These links from Twitter to your website will improve your search engine rankings. There are also several mobile phone apps for Twitter. Along with software and sites geared to help you manage your Twitter image.

With government employing Twitter in their marketing campaigns, adopting this social media service to yours is no longer considered early adopter. Twitter marketing is a necessity. Don’t let competitors mess up your Twitter marketing message.