The conversation around “feminism” has increased 300% over the past three years on Twitter. Several powerful discussions and campaigns began on Twitter and have brought awareness to many millions. #BringBackOurGirls started on Twitter to call attention to the horrific mass kidnapping in Nigeria, and resulted in more than 4.5 million Tweets from across the world.
Prominent women taking a stance on issues can directly increase awareness via Twitter. @Beyonce’s VMA performance (in which she displayed ‘feminist’ on a screen behind her) saw a 64% increase in conversation, and a 15% increase in the number of users participating. In other words, Twitter offers a platform for reaching and inspiring a new audience, not just [preaching to the choir].
Every day,Twitter provides a public platform for a wide range of voices, from vanguards like @GloriaSteinem to a new generation of global leaders like @MalalaFund and other passionate advocates who want to inform, inspire and amplify their voices.
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| Bolanle Austen-Peters. Image: Twitter |
As part of International Women’s Day, we sat down with Bolanle Austen-Peters (@BolaBap), the founder of Terra Kulture to find out how using Twitter has benefited her business.
@TerraKulture is a Nigerian Cultural Centre which fully commenced operations in August 2004 to promote Nigerian Arts, Culture and Languages. Its goal is mainly educational and recreational. The concept of the Centre was borne out of the fact that there is no venue with the intended ambience in Nigeria, for Nigerians and foreigners alike to learn about our culture and languages.
How long have you actively used Twitter to promote your business?
For 3 years we have actively been using Twitter for promotions, publicity and also to create awareness.
Do you use Twitter just for your business or on a personal level also?:
I use Twitter for business to inform our customers and friends of our events and for networking as well, I also use Twitter personally for networking. I think Twitter is a good platform for marketing and networking.
What are the effects Twitter has had on your business? –awareness and growth:
Twitter has been very effective in getting our message across to people and informing our community of all the happenings in Terra Kulture. Terra Kulture was seen as a place for the older generation and the wealthy, and at that point we realized we wanted to carry the youths along so they’ll know Terra Kulture is for everyone. So Twitter has been a platform that has helped pass such messages to our target audience and it has been very efficient and effective because we get good feedback from our interactions.
How valuable was Twitter in promoting your production SARO, Nigeria’s first ever Broadway style musical?
The use of Twitter in promoting SARO was phenomenal, and it yielded amazing results. Twitter helped engage our customers as it served as a platform for people to talk about SARO and what Terrakulture is all about. Twitter was really valuable in the promotion of SARO in the sense that during SARO we had a live screen setup where people tweeted their experience and really this was absolutely valuable as it sparked the interest of other people and made them want to watch.
Twitter was the most affordable agent we used to communicate and publicize the event.
A post on twitter gets to everyone and even notifies you, the tv or radio won't notify you when our advert is playing.
What tips would you give to other female business owners on how to use Twitter for their businesses?
Twitter as a platform can be used positively and otherwise, so it will be better get someone who knows how to use it to explain how it will work for your business and for personal networking. For instance, you can run paid promotions on Twitter and they send your content to millions of people; some people don’t know this and will just keep posting messages that won;t reach their target audience. Using Twitter for your business involves some technicality and expertise to get results.
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