The feature allows a user to share content on the platform for 24 hours in the form of a story and have no retweets, likes or public comments

Last week, microblogging and social networking platform Twitter rolled out its new feature ‘Fleets’ in India. Aimed at creating more conversation on the social media platform, the new product is, in particular, relevant for brands for marketing. “Brands can experiment with different content pieces to see what their consumers love and evolve their social strategy in real-time. Moreover, with cultural relevance being a key driver in a consumer’s purchase decision and participation is too important to leave to chance, brands must participate by aligning themselves to cultural events that fit the brand’s DNA and use Fleets for frequent participation,” Kanika Mittal, business head, Twitter India, told BrandWagon Online.

The feature allows a user to share content on the platform for 24 hours in the form of a story and have no retweets, likes or public comments. At the time of the launch of the new service, Twitter said that research revealed people don’t Tweet because of it being public. “We hope Fleets will empower many more people to express themselves more freely,” the social media platform said in an official communique.

It is widely believed that Fleets will allow brands to be more experimental in communication. “The feature opens up an opportunity to communicate around relevant matters and update in real-time with a more evolved audience,” Ayushman Chiranewala, marketing head, Fastrack said. Furthermore, it will also allow marketers to engage with the audience in a diverse way. “We plan to utilise this new feature for brand announcements, pushing time-sensitive deals, and interactive contests,” Radhika Agarwal, social media manager, FabHotels stated.

With more and more brands taking to online media to communicate with their consumers, industry analysts feel that the new tool can be used to create the right impact when it comes to product launches and key brand announcements. “The chance of communication losing out to noise will be reduced,” Sanjay Mehta, joint CEO, Mirum India, explained. According to Sowmya Iyer, founder and CEO, DViO Digital, stories are a very well adopted form of communication from a user behaviour standpoint, “the new tool will give brands an edge,” Iyer noted.

Moreover, moment marketing which has always found its place on Twitter is expected to gather steam, post the roll-out of Fleets. “Brands will roll out interesting moment marketing campaigns and there seems to be a massive scope of innovation here,” Heeru Dingra, CEO, WATConsult explained. One of the reasons why brands have refrained from actively marketing on Twitter is the fear of being trolled, however, the social media platform has resolved the issue with Fleets as unlike Tweets, they get deleted after 24 hours. “Brands can explore engaging in these topicals without having to worry about the long term impact,” Chaaya Baradhwaaj, founder and MD, BC Web Wise stated. With Fleets, Twitter has handed over more power to brands which may use this tool to roll-out out-of-the-box ideas in the future. What more, the social media platform may eventually look at monetising the new tool – if it hits the jackpot.

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