What is going on with Twitter
Many of Elon Musk’s decisions as Twitter’s new CEO are standing deleterious to brands. For example, the offer of verified profiles for $8 gave rise to many fake accounts that put real brands on the spot.
Twitter has been a crucial part of brands’ advertising campaigns for some time. Those who were lucky enough to be verified were able to receive special treatment from the social media giant: their profiles were highlighted by a blue check mark and a badge next to their names. The accounts were largely seen as authoritative voices among their respective industries, which granted them a fair amount of prestige.
That all seems like it might be changing now that Musk is at the helm. In the short time it has been possible to purchase a verified profile for $8, Twitter has been overrun with brand impersonators who have entertained users but also created damage.
A lot of brands have lost faith in Twitter and stopped investing in advertising. In fact, many well-known personalities have left the platform. The question on everyone’s mind is, “Is it time to switch to Mastodon?”
What you need to know about Mastodon
Mastodon is an open-source Twitter alternative that has been gaining popularity among “power users” on Twitter. It’s been referred to as Twitter 2.0 by some, and it, like Twitter, could be a place where you can discuss your latest book release or advertise your latest blog post. In the past weeks, it has more than doubled its app downloads on Apple App Store and Google Play for Android to add 489,000 new users while maintaining an active monthly user base of 1.5 million+.
Mastodon seems poised to be the next big thing—and there’s good reason for it. It doesn’t rely on advertising revenue or selling user information to make money and it does not use algorithms; instead, it’s funded by its developers who work for free on this open-source project. With a federated network of servers around the world and no ads or tracking software in use, it promises to stay a purer social media experience where you can truly speak your mind without fear of censorship or reprisal.
Is Mastodon right for brands?
Some user argue that they went over to Mastodon specifically to avoid being targeted by brands. On the other hands, brands like Volkswagen have already ditched Twitter and are eyeing this new platform with interest.
However, you should be aware that while this new social network is trendy, it may be some time before people have fully figured out how to best use the platform and find their favourite content. So far, it has been a great place for artists and activists to connect with each other and converge over shared interests.
The ads on the new site are still not ready for testing and we do’t really know that there will be ad space available. This is because each server has different rules and there are 4,600 of them, on which the accounts are hosted, so it is still pretty early to define how this environment will work for brands.
You might need to wait this one out
For now, the best thing for marketers to do is to join Mastodon to monitor the situation and understand how the platform works and how it will evolve. Mastodon isn’t like other social networks that have made their names on creating a specific ecosystem—it’s very much in flux, so any serious marketing strategy would need to be flexible. For example, it’s difficult to predict if you’ll be able to pay for sponsorships or advertising in a few months, as well as where your audience will be most receptive.
Marketing on Mastodon is still in its infancy, but it’s clear that the platform has a lot of potential for growth. The Mastodon team has put a lot of thought and care into making the platform easy to use, and the user experience is pretty good considering how new it is. The question remains: when should businesses start investing time and resources into marketing their presence on the network?
“Not yet.” That’s our answer. Marketing budgets are finite resources, so they need to be spent wisely. A company that wants to grow its social media presence through a particular channel needs to know if it’s worth doing so at this point in time. And Mastodon, right now, does not seem to have developed into a receptive place for brand communication. Only time will tell if this will change in the future. It is worth noting that most users are hoping it will not.
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