Confessions of a (former) Tweetophobic: Why you need to be on Twitter
Who cares what I’m doing right now? What can you really say in 140 characters?
These are some of the most common objections to using social media in general, and Twitter in particular. Chances are you’ve heard someone mention these concerns. Maybe you’ve even thought them yourself. I know I have.
The biggest disservice that Twitter ever did for itself was the stupid “what are you doing right now?” question. For many people, that flip statement came to define Twitter as an empty, vapid, egotistical service. Just look at the Oatmeal’s scathingly hilarious comic on 10 Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About. For many people, this narcissistic side to Twitter is all they know.
And while there are people who only use Twitter in that capacity, they’re a fairly small minority. Here are the real reasons you need to be on Twitter, either recreationally, professionally, or both:
1. To learn: Twitter is one of the best sources of information out there. Everyday I learn something new and fascinating from my “tweeps.” Maybe it’s a link to a great professional development article. Maybe it’s a new aspect of social media I hadn’t thought about. Or maybe it’s just a great new place to eat, or a bizarre factoid. Whatever it is, I always walk away from Twitter with some new tidbit.
2. To network: Through Twitter, I’ve met acclaimed social media experts, dozens of local small business owners and marketing professionals. I’ve even communicated with a national TV host. Twitter is a great leveler, and allows me to get in touch with people I never would have met otherwise.
3. To share: Any Twitter user worth his or her salt loves to share. Sometimes, admittedly, it’s for personal gain: I routinely tweet items about Roundpeg, or about one of our clients. And that has its place. But I also share information about job postings, retweets of other company’s triumphs and news, and generally interesting information. Twitter only works if you participate, and give just as much as you get.
4. To have fun: Chat about your favorite TV show. Shoot the breeze about the weather. Laugh at someone’s cute photo. At the end of the day, Twitter is exactly what you make of it. If you choose to only share trivial updates, that’s okay too. But if you’re looking for a deeper experience, you can find that, too.
Don’t fear Twitter. Embrace it! Don’t be afraid to jump in–the water’s fine.
The Many Uses of Twitter
With more than 100 million twitter users world wide, it is no longer just a bunch of geeks sharing what they had for breakfast. The types of conversations and the uses for this flexible social media tool seem to expand almost as quickly as the user base.
On the surface, twitter is a great way to stay in touch with friends and associates, around the block and around the world. Beyond that, once you build a following, twitter is a wonderful way to share news and information about your business. You just have to remember to keep the personal, professional and shameless self promotion in balance.
This is only the beginning. With users all around the world updating their status with photos and news events as it happens, Twitter is an incredible source of real time information. Unfiltered, it gives you real time updates from around the neighborhood and around the world, rivaling news sources like the New York Times and CNN.
We have used Twitter to gather opinions and inputs, but now researchers used an algorithm to parse the text in tweets about consumer confidence and Barak Obama’s job performance.
According to an article on the Harvard Business Review Blog, the results were compared to the Gallop Polls for Consumer Confidence Index andPresidential Approval Rating.
And for a tiny fraction of the cost of those omnibus surveys, the Twitter analysis reported roughly the same confidence and approval numbers.
Will this spell the end of polling? Probably not, but it will make data and analysis of consumers trends much more accessible for smaller firms. Polling today.. what’s next? I don’t know, I think I will ask my followers on Twitter.
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Revenge of the Little Blue Bird
By now most of you have heard something about an oil spill in the Gulf Coast. The spill, one belonging to British Petroleum, has been a PR disaster for the company. A few days ago, Lorraine wrote a post displaying some of the “redone” BP logos angry folks had designed, spurred on by Greenpeace.
While that is certainly a creative way to lambaste BP, I found another outlet one dissatisfied opponent of BP’s crisis 
management has decided to utilize: Twitter.
Fans of PR news will be familiar with BPGlobalPR, a fake Twitter account that has been set up to mock BP’s response to the oil spill. As one article on Time Magazine’s website states:
BPGlobalPR, a fake Twitter account that apparently went live a week ago today, is now being regularly updated with messages that mock BP’s response to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Poking fun at everything from the firm’s corporate profits to its ongoing struggles in shutting off the oil stream, BPGlobalPR has already attracted more than 25,000 followers. And the number keeps ticking upwards.
Tweets from the account range from poignant to hilarious, for instance:
- I’ve gotta say, at night the gulf really doesn’t look that bad.
- A bird just stole my sandwich! You deserve everything you get, nature!!!
- Feeling down? Why not take a long drive and blow off some steam?
- Lots of people blaming this on Bush or Obama. Pph, we wish.
- The truth is Presidents don’t have any control over what we do.
What do you think about they way social media is being used to criticize BP? Is this a sign of things to come? Will other companies face the same fate if they disappoint their customers and the general public?
And what, if any response should BP take?
Sometimes it Pays to be Awkward
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a really cool, unique Rainmaker event focused on social media marketing. The name of the event is Socially Awkward, and it’s chaired by Will Hardison. Will is heavily involved in social media and wanted to create an event that celebrated the medium.
It was fun discussing Twitter, Foursquare, and Facebook with other professionals and learning how they use it to grow their business. In addition, we had a group activity designed to demonstrate how powerful ”ReTweets” can be as part of a business development strategy.
One really neat aspect of the event was a live streaming Twitter feed set up on stage, showing what attendants were saying about the event. Here are some examples:
- RT @willhardison: Great group at #rmsociallyawkward !!!
- @roundpeg Rt festival #rmsociallyawkward @epicallysteve looking for skateboard students
- @ShawnieQR: I helped make 8 connections today at #RMSociallyAwkward which is awesome!!!
- @ShowMeReg: @Rainmakers #rmsociallyawkward last fri of every month!
This provided a running commentary for the event and was fun to follow. Even people who weren’t in the room could participate in the conversation.
- @AllisonLCarter Help him out? RT @roundpeg Rt festival #rmsociallyawkward Davd. Strickland looking for bast due accounts
I had a great time at this morning’s Rainmaker event. It gave me some terrific insight into how powerful social media can be and how I can use it to help Roundpeg grow. For once, I didn’t mind being a little “Awkward.”
Jump Start Your Business: How to actually make Money on Twitter
As we continue on with our discussion of Inc. Magazine’s excellent 25 Ways to Jump Start Your Business, it’s time to take a look at one of the most misunderstood tools in your marketing arsenal: Twitter.
Everyone has heard of Twitter. Many of you are probably on it. But everyone is still trying to figure out how you can take the precious time that you spend Tweeting, and turn it into cold hard cash.
The cardinal rule of Twitter is that it’s all about two-way communications. If you’re just talking at your followers, you’re doing it wrong. Engage them: consider starting a contest to make them feel like they’re an important part of your business. Ask them to design a logo (with prizes for the one chosen, of course), or even simply ask them for help with a thorny problem. My boss, Lorraine, recently tweeted about a problem that she was having thinking up a name for a company. She got great responses, and actively got her followers engaged.
Twitter can also be a great way to generate leads. A real estate firm in New York City regularly searches for people who tweet about moving to New York, looking for apartments in New York, and so on, and then offer their services. In this way, you can find people who might already be looking for you. Everyone wins.
These are just a few ways that you can use Twitter to expand your business. Remember: be interactive, be interesting, and have fun!
Social Media is Word of Mouth on Steroids
Do you have a word of mouth business? I talk to lots of small business owners who say they get the majority of their business from referrals, that they run a word-of-mouth business.
But word-of-mouth is changing! Conversations which used to occur across a garden fence are now happening across the internet, as word-of-mouth, becomes world-of-mouth.
Just look at some of the statistics
- There are more than 200 million blogs
- 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and services
- 78% of consumers trust peer recommendation.
- 3,000,000 Tweets every day on Twitter.com
You don’t need to be a statistician to realize your customers are going on line to find products, gather information, share information, form opinions and select service providers. If you want them to select you, GET IN THE GAME!
Becoming involved in social media allows you to build strong connections to a base of customers and fans who are passionate about you. In Indianapolis, Scott Wise of Scotty’s and Paul Poteet have done terrific jobs of building their community. Scotty has done it mostly through Twitter, while Paul has maxed out on Facebook.
So the question is … what is your strategy. How do you tie the pieces together?
Now I realize this is probably a silly place to be sharing this post. If you are reading it, you are already one of the folks who gets the importance of social media, but you can help! Share this link via email, to someone who doesn’t yet understand why they need to be a part of the conversation.
Follow Friday Friends
Another Friday, another round of #FF’s on Twitter. These endless lists of names sometimes introduce me to people I should follow, but without an explanation of who they are, I typically skip the lists and simply thank those who #FF me.
Then I read this blog post by Chris Brogan, about how to create really productive results from your #FF posts, and I have a whole new attitude about Follow Friday.
He suggests you write a blog post about your Follow Friday friends, or at least a sentence explaining why someone should follow them. I like the concept. I can introduce my friends in a meaningful way, and meet your friends too.
This introduction process is important to the growth of the community. Who should you introduce? Chris suggests
Find the good people. Find people who need the attention. Find people who matter to you. Share the locals.
So here is my list for the week. The people on Twitter you might enjoy meeting:
@marketingveep – Aka Kellie Schmith – Love to see what she is reading, and love her sense of humor. Right now, she is going through a kitchen remodel, and I feel her pain as she searches for a place for the coffee pot.
@BgKahuna – Self proclaimed Court Jester of All Media, and King of No Pants Friday. Always willing to share fun photos of his adventures throughout Indy and a wicked sense of humor.
@robbyslaughter - One of the smartest people I know – He is never shy about sharing his sarcasm along with the wisdom.
@taylorpb23 – A talented graphic designer. While I get to see his work on a daily basis, it is fun to see what he shares on Twitter.
These are just a few of my favorites this week. Who would you add to the list?
Twitter is Important Part of Marketing Menu
Local restaurant owner, Scott Wise was featured on the cover of a recent issue of the IBJ. The article detailed Scott’s unique approach to the business; his successes and failures. Through it all, Scott stayed true to his vision, following his gut instinct in direct opposition to advice and opinions of others.
The result? Scotty’s Brewhouse is a popular destination for students, families and singles in Muncie, Bloomington, and right here in Indy.
One of the things Scott does extremely well is leverage social media, particularly Twitter: From the article:
“[Wise's achievements include] effective use of technology—from weekly e-mail blasts to near-constant Twitter chatter—to promote his restaurants and connect with customers.”
I met Scott about six months ago, and have followed his activites on Twitter since. I think he has found the perfect balance between Scott Wise the person and Scotty’s Brewhouse the business. ‘He is just as likely to post a comment reacting to something someone said as he is to be promoting his restaurant. The result, is that customers who follow Wise on Twitter feel like they know him.
What if your business doesn’t have a “personality” behind the brand? Can you still use social media to reach new customers. I think the answer is a resounding yes, as you can see in this article from Inc Magazine. National chain Tasti D-Lite, built initially by strong celebrity endorsements, now focuses on encouraging all their customers to talk about them, and Twitter is the perfect venue to expand that conversation.
The lesson? Whether you are a national or local chain, Twitter should be an integral part of your marketing plan.
And if you want to keep up with Scotty, you can follow him @brewhouse on Twitter. If you stop by the resturant, be sure to have the Fried Pickles and tweet about it when you are done!
New Uses for Twitter
In the small business community we are very focuesed on how to use twitter to expand our brand and communicate with our customers, propsects and strategic partners. But Twitter has many other powerful applications as a search and even research tool.
In this article for the Harvard Business Reivew, the authors present an interesting example of how larger firms can use twitter to gather feed back from employees and customers. Obviously for sensitve company information, you would want a more private platform, but the strategy can work for small business easily. How? Just ask a question, and ask people to respond using a hashtag (#). Then search for results, and all your responses will come up on one page.
Simple surveys, opinion poles, and event product suggestions, can be tested with Hashtags on Twitter. Give it a try, and share your results here!
Check out Kyle Lacy on Inside Indiana Business
Looking for insights on how to use Twitter for Busiuness? Start by checking out this interview with Kyle Lacy on Inside Indiana Business.
As I listened to the interview, I don’t think Gerry is quite sure how or why to use twitter. I hope Kyle left him a copy of the book!
