In early February of 2023 FINN provided a training to the two Radix founders on how to make use of Twitter for strategic communication purposes. We wanted to help the Radix founders to use Twitter to connect with journalists and opinion leaders in the tech space.
Research at FINN shows a very high correllation between the amount of followers that CEOs have on Twitter, and the number of media articles and interviews they appear in.
In the training, we discussed Twitter best practices.
- We shared tips to monitor trendy and hot topics
- We talked about “hot takes” and why they are relevant for opinion leaders on Twitter – and for journalists 🔥
- We showed how even more nuanced opinions and insights can find a place in a well-crafted Twitter thread 🧵
- We also identified a number of AI opinion leaders in Belgium and internationally who could be interested to engage with Radix founders on Twitter and who would probably consider them peers in the debate.
Off to the races: engaging thought leaders on Twitter
As the two founders began engaging with journalists and other industry leaders on Twitter around the topic of AI and ChatGPT, they came on the radar of Lieven Scheire, a phyisicist and self-described “nerd” who is also a celebrity comedian, television host and technology podcaster (“Nerdland”) in Belgium.
As Lieven Scheire tells the story in HLN:
I asked my Nerdland colleagues if it would be possible to use artificial intelligence to match the singing with voices of celebrities.” His hypothesis was simple. “Artificial intelligence does pattern recognition. If there is a unique pattern in a singing and speaking voice for each person, then AI should be able to recognize that, right?
On Twitter I suddenly came across a fascinating discussion about artificial intelligence,” says Lieven. “The Masked Singer had just started so I thought, I’ll take my chances.
Laurent Sorber, Radix founder, completes the story:
Lieven contacted me on Twitter and pitched his idea. I immediately shared that with my colleagues here at Radix,” Laurent says. “A few people were very enthusiastic. Among them, of course, were a few The Masked Singer fans. One colleague started working on a test version right away.
After a short development sprint, Radix and Lieven Scheire launched the “Ontmaskatron” (“Unmaskatron”), an AI tool that is uncannily accurate when it comes to guessing the Masked Singers’ identities.
From Twitter conversation to media blitz
With Lieven Scheire’s reach on social media, print media and television, the Radix Ontmaskatron created buzz both online, in national print media and on national television – week after week. In a region with a population of 6 million, the combined reach of a primetime Friday night entertainment show, the #1 commercial TV channel, the #1 print media outlet is somewhere in the region of 5 million.
Outcomes
Some key outcomes of the Twitter and earned media campaign:
- Earned media:
- A reach of approximately 5 million through coverage on Het Laatste Nieuws, VTM Nieuws and international aggregators like Drimble
- Tens of thousands of impressions on Twitter mentioning Radix through Lieven Scheire’s social media following and that of Martijn Peters (tech journalist at HLN)
- Radix social media (in a period of one week):
- Followers for Radix doubled from 332 followers to 706 (+112%)
- Profile visits increased from 734 to 9443 (+ 1186%)
- Impressions: from 992 to 38200 (+3748%)
- Website visits:
- Visits to the website showed a spike on March 3, 2023 when the article about Radix and the Unmaskatron appeared in HLN
For the audience of the Masked Singer, the Ontmaskatron provided a fascinating, accessible way to experience the power of AI.
For the AI crowd, it was a powerful way to showcase the technology to a larger audience. And for media, it proved an irresistible story that matches high tech and showbizz.
As for Radix, a chance Twitter discussion turned into a huge platform to establish their creativity, entrepreneurship and technological credibility.
Davio Larnout, CEO Radix
The Twitter workshop by FINN pushed us to ‘just do it’. We knew the theory; we just needed to take the time to put it into practice. After the workshop, Laurent (Radix CTO) and I started tweeting regularly and engaging in the conversation. And just after a few days, one of Laurent’s tweets got the attention of Lieven Schiere. It was a provocative answer to a different PoV on AGI, with excellent added-value insights. I think the combination of ‘just do it’ and a strong point of view helped us gain attention fairly quickly.