• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 17, 2014

Depending on how you measure them, the average Twitter account has between one and 61 followers. Yet despite those modest numbers, direct-response marketers are increasingly confident in Twitter’s ability scale local campaigns.  
 
Take Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee First Cup, which recently relied on the micro-blogging platform to plug its “Free Medium Hot or Iced Coffee Campaign” in Phoenix, Ariz.
 
With the help of social-marketing firm HipLogiq and its SocialCompass software, First Cup found people tweeting key phrases like “want coffee” and “craving coffee” in the area.
 
During the effort -- which ran from late March to early November 2013 -- First Cup responded to 1,827 relevant Twitter conversations and convinced 2,201 consumers to take advantage of a free coffee offer.
 
First Cup didn’t stop there. When consumers redeemed their freebie, the company offered them a little “Dunkin’ Donuts Cash” in exchange for sharing the deal with their Twitter followers. The result? One consumer shared the deal with 1,745 followers, after which two of his followers re-tweeted it to another 1,150 Twitter users.
 
In all, referrals accounted for an additional 1,485 customers for First Cup during the campaign, according to internal estimates. That amounted to a 120% conversion rate in a little over seven months, First Cup found.
 
The real-time nature of Twitter marketing also appealed to Alex Apodaca, chief operating officer at First Cup. “What used to take us at least a week to create, approve and produce … now we can do in an instant,” he said. But that’s just the beginning, according to Apodaca. This year, he said First Cup plans to expand its partnership with HipLogiq to promote Dunkin’s broader menu, as well as reach the Hispanic market and target teens through 25-year-olds.
 
Big brands are increasingly relying on social media to target consumers in local markets. Nearly 60% of franchise businesses (57.9%) use their Facebook page for local promotions, while 32.6% count on Twitter to go local, according to a recent report from BIA/Kelsey, which was commissioned on behalf of Web marketing firm Surefire Social.
 
Overall, locally targeted media and marketing spending by national businesses, including brands, franchises, dealer and manufacturer networks and other multi-location enterprises, will grow from $45 billion in 2014 to $53 billion in 2017, BIA/Kelsey projected. If accurate, that would represent more than one-third of the total local advertising market.
 
Last year, social-media advertising spending was expected to reach $4.6 billion -- up 35% from $3.4 billion in 2012, according to a recent estimate from ZenithOptimedia.