Mainstream media is in an orgiastic frenzy of coverage about Twitter. Everyone’s Tweeting, from celebrities to CEOs according to CNN, The View, Today, the NY Times, the Wall St Journal and just about everyone else. Each of them covers Twitter like it’s an overnight phenomenon that came out of nowhere, although Twitter has been gaining traction for three years and now has 9 14 million members.
Should your company be on Twitter? Not necessarily.
Top 10 reasons not to join Twitter:
- every Tweet has to be approved by legal. Twitter is a social network where conversation is fast and interconnected. If you have to wait a day, or even a few hours for your 140 character Tweet to gain legal approval, Twitter will be the wrong platform for you.
- you plan to use Twitter like a giant RSS feed, broadcasting nothing but headlines, deals. People follow people they find interesting. If all your Tweets are a one-way street: Block!
- you think using Twitter is a social media strategy. It’s a tactic, a tool, not a strategy. It works if you already have an online following who’ll view your Tweets as a way to interact with your company on a human level
- you think it’s a good idea to have someone tweet as if they are the president of the company. Authentic and transparent are the keys. It’s fine if someone besides the CEO tweets for your company, as long as they say that’s what they’re doing
- you are not going to respond when people direct tweets at you. Twitter is like the new watercooler. If you walked out to the water fountain and talked non-stop to people gathered there, they’d certainly be happy when you left. Ditto for Twitter.
- you think paying for followers might be a good idea. Followers are earned on Twitter. Be interesting, make only every 10th Tweet about you and you’ll gain and keep a following.
- you think all that matters on Twitter is getting a lot of people to follow you. Quality trumps quantity.
- you want to protect your updates. If people have to ask permission to see what you’re posting on Twitter, you’re defeating the purpose – which is conversation.
- you plan to track Twitter with Google Analytics. Google Analytics won’t give you true tracking. You need to track the urls you post with a service like budurl or bit.ly and use one or more social media tracking tools so you can get real-time stats on Twitter
- You think you can market to people with whom you have no relationship Listen first. Monitor what’s being said about your brand, your industry, your products. Then join the conversation and become part of the community. Then your occasional marketing messages will be accepted, or at least tolerated because you also add value to the community.
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T-shirt available on Cafe Press
good points! helpful reminder list. Found you from Masshable Twit. I RT’d it :)
Great blog, and very insightful. I think using twitter has to be enjoyable and only then will you get the most out of the experience.
You’ve done a great job expressing what I try to tell people. Thanks for wrapping this up so neatly.
Agreed, good article. I run two twitter accounts for my two businesses, and it’s a constant battle to determine the best ratio of promotion vs. conversation. I find the best way to get people is to be personal and humorous, but if you go too far into off-kilter or irreverent humor, you run the risk of offending someone while standing there with your company brand in your hand (hence the need for some companies to go through all the legal red tape before posting). Current plan is to just keep doing it and try to find that balance, because you’re right – just having followers isn’t enough. They need to be *interested* followers!
http://twitter.com/myinkpro
http://twitter.com/ctctickets
I live the message of this shirt (“I’m tweeting this”). It kind of reminds me of the “I read your email” t-shirt.
Regarding the 10 reasons, I love you you have linked them to “standard”, or “in real life”, conversation situations. Would it not be ironic if tweet etiquette were to save other forms of conversational etiquette? :)
Awesome list of reasons, BL. I’m always floored by those that think #7 is a good idea. What good are millions of followers if they don’t listen?
Well I saw your tweet about getting no comments so I’ll leave one! :D
Fun post! Only caveat I have is that feeds are fun on twitter. (for example Digg and Reddit have good feeds) So I’m not sold on the ‘don’t create feeds for twitter’ idea but other than that- good stuff!
It’s funny how many of these “how to use social media properly” rants I read really just apply to good marketing and people practices no matter the venue.
I agree with everything except point #7. It all depends on what your trying to accomplish and in some situations quantity may be a better strategy than quality. You can tweak the quality if you have the quantity.
Jody Phillips
http://www.greenprintmarketing.com
I think some of the tips are good for everyone who tweets. I really like 6
well written piece – yes, this is exactly who shouldn’t be using Twitter – i RT’d it too
I agree with all of these except point number two. If you’re twitter purpose is to offer great deals to people and you are clear about that in the account bio etc. then its ok to use Twitter that way. Dell has an account that does nothing but do that and it works fine. I personally dont follow that account because I am not looking for a deal on a Dell but those who are follow the account. It is providing quality to them.
Very succinct and to the point. You hit the nail on the proverbial head.
I’m tempted to write the companion piece for journalists.
Not a bad list, but whoever “designed” that shirt for CafePress needs a serious lesson in transparent designs for dark clothing. It’s not hard. They have a tutorial. :-)
I agree with the transparency. I twitter for my company, almost as if it were my account.
Good points! This is true of associations, too…some very misguided tweeters there….
Marketing twerps who attempt to spam Twitter via Ghost Tweeting, Fake User Accounts, constant self or client promotion, no interaction via DM or replies, and other socnet sins…are stupid and their antics will return to bite them in the butt.
Twitter and socnets are for people to connect and communicate. Although you get great SEO from Twittering links and adding content to social media sites, opportunistic invasions of social networks will cause irreparable damage to avaricious businesses.
Terrific post, as usual.
Nice new avatar on Twitter, btw.
Simon Salt has brought up an interesting point about Dell. But there is a Richard at Dell on Twitter who is more a personal Tweeter, eh?
Great list… the only one that doesn’t ring true for me is #2 and based on your “block” comment I think I know why.
#2 is a perfectly valid use of twitter BUT that type of account should never proactively follow other users – it should be there for anyone who finds it useful to follow, but should never try to insert itself into other people’s twitter experiences.
I enjoyed this post. Too many professionals over think and over analyze Twitter (and all social media) rather than just being part of it. We have spent too much time thinking EVERYTHING done in a business must show immediate ROI. Well not everything that is beneficial will fit into a molded slot with a box to check. This is one of those things that “just is”. If you can’t get with that concept, then just stay out of the pool.
Re: #9, Just FYI, Omniture SiteCatalyst is now integrated with Twitter for metrics reporting in real time.
Great list. I can’t stand it when I see folks posting headlines all day long – usually about their services and how lovely they are.
That’s not what Twitter is for, and it’s painful to watch.
I haven’t really done that much with my twitter I just have it. It hasn’t really been worth my time yet. Maybe it will change though.
Really liked this post, great discussion.
This is the reality and I like what you have written here:-) Lets all use twitter in a nice manner:-)
Good posting. Twitter is a bit over used by companies who do not know what they are doing. If you want to use twitter you have to do it right.
I love the Slap in the face approach here because most companies and even Twitter users do this :-)
I’m not usually a religious person, but hallelujah to points 3, 7 and 10.
I hope more marketers soon start to realize that all social media technologies are simply tools and/or locations to further the market conversation. If you build it, it doesn’t mean they will come. Understanding what Influencers and audience participants to reach, then what meaningful content to share, and finally what tools to use to share that info is wayyyyy more than just Twittering because Twitter is there.
On points 7 and 10… someday there will be social media spam filters (I can’t wait.) You can’t market “at” people anymore, especially if you have no relationship with them. Build relationships with your influencers and audience members who Participate in the market conversation because the majority of people who buy something are “listening” to that conversation. And, the number of people following you is like looking at how many people hit your website without looking at whether they bounced the moment they arrived–meaningless.
Personal use of twitter has been figured out. Using twitter as entrepeneur or SMB is just about there. There is little out there for guidance in using twitter for corporations, or individuals who work for corporations. This is good stuff. For example, I was guided by a twiiter expert to build as big a following as possible. I think that was a mistake for me as a VP of a large corporation. I’m refocusing my twitter activity to build relationships with 20, 50 or 100 people that I can learn from and interact with. It’s different than someone trying to sell t-shirts, sell advice, drive people their site, or become a celebrity.
David – I wanted to keep my list of people I follow small also, but I kept finding so many interesting people who had escaped my purview. And now I’ll need to follow you too :>)
Nice list. As a business that uses Twitter to raise brand awareness, we must always be conscious of what we expect to get out of the site. #5 is especially crucial. If you don’t DM people back, the impact on your brand can be very negative.
http://twitter.com/adventureassoc
Each of them covers Twitter like it’s an overnight phenomenon that came out of nowhere, although Twitter has been gaining traction for three years and now has 9 14 million members.
Even the hottest news soon becomes no use to anybody!
I am just getting to grips with Twitter and this guide has helped to give me a better of understanding of the great platform. Many thanks.
Point #2 is valid but promoting deals may be way you have followers.
Personal use of twitter has been figured out. Using twitter as entrepeneur or SMB is just about there. There is little out there for guidance in using twitter for corporations, or individuals who work for corporations. This is good stuff. For example, I was guided by a twiiter expert to build as big a following as possible. I think that was a mistake for me as a VP of a large corporation. I’m refocusing my twitter activity to build relationships with 20, 50 or 100 people that I can learn from and interact with. It’s different than someone trying to sell t-shirts, sell advice, drive people their site, or become a celebrity.
Using software like Hootsuite or Seesmic helps me keep up relationships with scores of Twitter followers. Whether you should interact with just a few people or with as many as possible depends on your goals, but my guess is that in a large corporation, more than 50 or 100 people could be of value if you can develop a way to engage with them
I like some of them. It depends upon the marketing strategies of the company.