When I tell people I use Twitter, I get one of three responses. “What’s that?” “What a time drain…”, or “I just love Twitter”
For the first one, I know they probably aren’t aware of Social Media or what it can do for their business.
The second have a vague awareness of it, and may even have a Twitter account, but they haven’t yet made it work for them.
The third group are either young and use Twitter as an extended SMS or chat feature, or they are business people who are progressive enough to see it’s value.
I’m somewhere in between.
The first time I signed up I posted a couple of times and gave it up as a time suck. Posting every time I get up to let the dog out seems vain and frivolous, and it takes valuable time that could be used to get things done. As it was, I was spending at least 2 hours a day catching up on the rss feeds of the various blogs that serve my industry.
Then I started noticing that the people who are blogging the most about Social Media have Twitter accounts, and they often micro-blog about their posts or other news on Twitter, (Doh!) I started following them on Twitter, where I could see the micro-blogs of my favorites all in one place, complete with links to news of the day, and if I want to comment on it I can enter the conversations going on in a much more immediate way than by posting a comment on a blog or web page.
For a business like mine, Twitter works because I can keep up on what’s going on in several areas of interest and participate in those discussions in a relatively short amount of time. I can learn about new standards and practices almost as they are developed.
Come on, how can it possibly be useful?
Twitter can be useful in a number of ways that aren’t readily visible at first glance.
I posted a frustrated tweet with a new browser that I was testing, and didn’t recommend it. Within 15 minutes someone from the browser’s social media team had direct messaged me and asked how they could improve their product. I was floored. Turns out that you can use Twitter’s powerful tracking feature to get a direct message delivered by SMS to your phone or chat client whenever somebody tweets about the keywords you request. Companies like HR Block uses tracking to respond to people who tweet about them. Imagine the power this adds to your customer service team. You can address issues and put out potential fires before they even flare up. Or can use it to track applications that you use to keep on top of the latest news.
For example, I can set a track for “WordPress” and see every Tweet related to WordPress.
Just sms one of the following commands to your Twitter account:
- track – get a list of subjects that you are currently tracking
- track off – turn all tracking off for your account
- track subject - starts to track subject
- untrack subject – turns tracking off on subject
- whois username – find out more about the person sending the message
Twitter up your events
It’s become quite common for companies to ask people to twitter their events. You can get a blow-by-blow account from people who are right there and see multiple perspectives at once. You can ask questions about the event or the speaker when the tweeter is still there, and interact, even though you’re not there.
I regularly Twitter my training schedule for the Avon Walk this summer, and have seen several donations to the cause from people I don’t know and would otherwise not have reached. I also got a job designing a social media newsroom from a response to a question posted on Twitter.
Even more impressive is the Frozen Pea fund, started for Susan Reynolds when she discovered she had breast cancer. Not only is she helping others through her regular posts about her life with cancer, but the community has rallied to help pay medical bills.
San Francisco war protesters used Twitter to organize protest events and avoid arrest.
Connect connect, connect
Twitter allows you access to people who are at the leading edge of their field. Don’t abuse the privilege and harass them, but take advantage of the opportunity to let them know you respect their opinions, and add yours when it is appropriate. Add your favorites to other networks like Xing, Linkedin and Facebook. If they aren’t accepting new invitations, fine, be respectful of that and just remain part of the conversation.
Don’t just listen to your own circle. Check out who the people you are following follow and see if you want to add them to your list. Periodically check the public timeline to see who’s talking that you might want to follow.
Don’t follow everybody
As un-social as that sounds, trust me, it’s good advice. There are people who try to follow just about everybody to get the most followers they can. Just because they are following you doesn’t mean you have to follow back. If you don’t know them, peruse their archives and see if there is a shared interest. See if they frequently post reams of drivel and then decide if you want to see their posts in your timeline.
Market yourself
Don’t think anybody is going to stay following you if all you ever talk about is yourself and how wonderful you are. You have to reach out more than that and participate in the conversation. Re-tweet posts you think others may not have seen yet. Send links to information you’ve found of value or have a question about that someone else in your circle might find useful. Help people out by answering their questions for them or directing them to someone who can.
Too much tweeting
If you don’t have anything useful to say, don’t say anything. Blabbering on about your ingrown toenail isn’t going to make you friends. Neither is endless griping about your job, your boss or the guy in the next cube. Don’t forget, Twitter is archiving it all for posterity. Unless you delete your account and start over, your words live on a lot longer than you may wish them to. If you get un-followed a lot, check to see if you are staying on topic or just sitting in a corner griping to yourself.
Stay tuned for part two, Twitter tools, where I’ll give you a list of tools that can help increase your Twitter productivity.
