Meet Peter Greenberger, the Director of Washington Sales at Twitter, Inc. Greenberger is a believer in the power of social media. He argues that any CEO or company should use Twitter to communicate with its target audience or customers. Greenberger and his team currently work with political campaigns to help reach and influence key audience and he has a interesting theory about the next presidential election in the United States.
“We believe that 2012 has the potential to be the Twitter Election”
WashingtonExec had the opportunity to speak with Greenberger about Twitter, the power of social media and mobility. Greenberger also explained how Twitter is being used to influence key leaders and politics in our country.
WashingtonExec: What does the word mobility mean to you in a modern-day sense?
Peter Greenberger: In my business when we think about mobile we think about the explosion of web-connected mobile devices. We can communicate from anywhere at any time with just about anyone. We are all mobile now, literally. But we also enjoy a new type of mobility in our work lives. Today we can post a living record of our life and accomplishments through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google and other social platforms. Your experience now lives online which enables all of us to maintain a career “in the cloud.” We are not tethered to a place or position. We can carry our digital accomplishments and real lives wherever they can take us.
WashingtonExec: What sets Twitter apart from other social media websites? What does it offer that other sites can’t?
Peter Greenberger: Twitter brings users closer to the people, organizations and events that are important or meaningful to them and is the only network happening in real time. For breaking news there is no better way to keep up with or to influence the conversation. In addition to the real-time nature of the platform, Twitter’s online reach among opinion leaders and influencers is unrivaled — journalists, elected officials, pundits, business leaders, musicians, actors, comedians, sports icons, religious leaders…they are all active on Twitter.
WashingtonExec: Many executives or CEO’s hear the word “social media” and become worried about overexposure. Where do you see the balance between privacy and expanding you personal brand online?
Peter Greenberger: Increasingly the borders between private life and public brand are blurring. The most interesting people to follow on Twitter, for example, provide insightful information about their area of expertise while at the same time revealing more about their personality and private life than you would normally gain access to on other mediums. Twitter allows leaders to extend their personality online by sharing information that others in their same industry will find interesting, but also by sharing personal anecdotes about themselves from time to time. There’s a balance there, but this approach encourages people to engage with you at a deeper level and helps to further build your brand and network.
WashingtonExec: What advice can you give to companies who want to use Twitter as a marketing and communication tool?
Peter Greenberger: My team helps leading political campaigns, party committees and national advocacy groups use Twitter to reach and influence key audiences. Many of the same digital strategies can be used by marketing and communications experts in other fields. For example, several of the presidential campaigns have used our Promoted Accounts product very effectively to ramp up their number of followers. A number of political and issue advocacy clients have employed Promoted Tweets for a variety of goals, including: driving traffic to websites, responding to allegations, increasing video views, raising money, selling merchandise, promoting contests and asking questions of their supporters. These tactics are applicable outside of politics, too.
One key learning is the opportunity to take advantage of live events such as debates, caucuses and primaries, and breaking news. Many of our clients nimbly add relevant search terms to their campaigns to make sure their messages – via Promoted Tweets in search results and in timelines – reach people interested in those topics as they are occurring. Other advertisers can do the same focusing on trending topics related to their business or customers.
WashingtonExec: Throughout all the positions you have held during your career, what are you most proud of?
Peter Greenberger: I am most proud of the teams and businesses that I have built in my career. For many years I worked on political campaigns – sometimes I would be the first person in a state and work to build up the organization very quickly. I was able to build a successful political and public sector sales team at Google, and I am working towards that same goal here at Twitter. We believe that 2012 has the potential to be the Twitter Election – and that Twitter has an opportunity to connect the world in ways never before possible. I am proud to be able to play a role in such an important enterprise.