If you have been online recently, you may have begun seeing the @ sign before people’s names and wondered what that was all about. Or you might have heard about Tweets or Tweeps and wondered what the heck that was all about. Or perhaps you have just heard about Twitter and could not figure it out.
You are not alone. Despite the fact that I do this for a living, my wife got frustrated with me last night because she could not understand Twitter. As I said to her (before I saw the presentation below) that it is essentially the spawn of text messaging and blogging combined on the internet. Thousands of people around the world periodically take a break from what they are doing and post their thoughts in 140 characters or less. For more, here is a presentation from Paul Bradshaw of the Online Journalism Blog:
How will this help you and your business?
It is my belief that Twitter is probably the most influential marketing tool provided in the social media space. With it’s straight to the point limitation of characters and the ease of access to network like minded individuals sets it apart. Or as I once posted, “Why do I Twitter? It allows me to learn from people smarter than me in a short amount of time.”
This includes your colleagues and customers. Twitter can be used for customer service, networking, news gathering, research and so much more. I could combine a lot of the research that I have done and take claim of it, but instead I point you to four influential articles that I have read that have lead to my strategy on Twitter:
Guy Kawasaki: How to Use Twitter as a Twool: This is the first post I read that really opened my eyes potential of Twitter.
Influential Marketing Blog: The 5 Stages of Twitter Acceptance: If you join Twitter and become a user, you will want to revisit this and get a chuckle. Rohit Bhargava pretty much nails it.
Mashable: 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them: These are great examples of how some of America’s biggest brands are uitlizing the power of Twitter.
Twitter to Go: Hey, Small Business Owner, you are not left out! This is an awesome case study of one local coffee shop owner who turned Twitter into an innovative order system and packed the place in the process.
So there you have it, Twitter in a nutshell. It may not fit your business’ marketing needs or audience, but give it a shot and you just might meet some like minded people that you can learn from. Then you can have a Tweet Up. Oh never mind, that is another story for another day…