Thursday, March 12, 2009

 

Twitter: The hot ticket


I don't hide the fact that Twitter is, by far, my favorite social platform. For me, I feel it allows me to connect and build relationships in a far more productive manner than other social media platforms - both personally and professionally. As Twitter continues to gain users and continue to be the "hot ticket," there are sure to be a few flaws that come along. The two biggest potential flaws are: 1) unnecessary following & 2) companies joining for the wrong reasons.

1) Unnecessary following: Everyone wants to be popular or appear to be popular. There's a big misconception with Twitter, that the number of followers one has, the more "legit" they must be. While this thought process holds some validity, you need to truly decipher why a certain person has a large following. Some are "experts" and major players in certain industries, PR has @prsarahevans. However, there's a trend of following people, just to be able to build one's own volume. Remember, Twitter should be about quality not quantity.

2) Joining for wrong reasons: By now the word is out, Twitter is the new social media platform that everyone is on. Why aren't you? You must be behind the times, right? Not necessarily. As more consumers join Twitter, there is going to be an ongoing trend of companies joining Twitter. I've read articles recently urging more and more businesses to hop on the wagon and "get with it." But before you decide if you or your company should have a presence on Twitter, sit back and evaluate this tactic. Joining Twitter shouldn't be "because everyone else is" or "because my competitor is." You need to treat Twitter like any other business decision and research, research, research. Realize that Twitter will require effort and a strategic plan. You won't get results by simply jumping in. You need to engage your community and build rapport. You need to listen. You need to provide a benefit to those that follow. A successful Twitter account requires time and effort. It can provide countless benefits if done properly, you just need to sit down and determine what your goal is and if Twitter is the best resource to reach that goal.

I love Twitter. I put in a lot of time and effort into my account and I've learned far more than I ever expected. I'm a firm believer that Twitter is by far the best social media tool for consumers and businesses. But like everything else, you only get what you put into it.

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