Lifetimetv is Now Following You on Twitter!
OMG! The Lifetime television network cares about me enough to follow me on Twitter! I wonder why the television network is interested in me. Could it be that they think I have script for a great relationship drama that can be shot in periodic soft focus or perhaps they’d like to cast me in one of their signature shows like “How to Look Good Naked“?
Of course @lifetimetv has no real interest in me other than hoping that I will choose to follow them as soon as I find out they’re following me on Twitter. So far the company has actually tweeted eight times since July 2007, consisting of insightful messages like “ looking at http://www.lifetimetv.com some good stuff up right now.” They also managed to follow 1,067 people, convincing 153 people to follow them back. Some marketing person, whether internally or at thier agency, is hoping to report thousands of people are following them on Twitter to justify their existence.
While this is only mildly unethical – since it is, in fact, spam – it certainly is bad marketing. Friending as many people as possible to gain brand awareness is the social media version of blind reach marketing. Additionally, if you’re adding all these people to your social network and not providing anything of value past “snow and now rain? at least Jersey Girl is on tonight” then you’re actually providing a negative brand experience and the whole thing is backfiring.
Then again, “me too” marketing isn’t new to Lifetime…their Web site is mylifetime.com. Mygodwhycantyoubeoriginal.com!
I guess I’ll have to wait another year to meet Carson Kressley. *sigh*
