Day 2 – 30 Days of Social Media: Is this Twitter thing social media?
October 2, 2009 by Suzi Dafnis
When we talk about social media some people think we’re talking about Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.
Social networking sites are just one aspect of social media. Social media is a whole lot more.
But is ‘this Twitter thing’ social media?
START HERE:
Listen to this overview of Day 2’s lesson:
I started using Twitter actively 12 months ago and it has become the single-most powerful communication tool for me. I have used it to deepen relationships with my customers, to do market research, to generate interest in projects that I’m working on, to meet like-minded business people, to get information and resources and to share information and resources.
Twitter is the main delivery vehicle for 30 Days of Social Media so it makes sense that you get started using it in an effective way. (We’ll be talking about Twitter many times throughout this program… as it’s a key player in the social media world.)
I’ve included a link to the recording of a webinar I ran for the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. It’s hosted online and you should be able to click and watch and listen. It’s about an hour long and covers:
- How to get started with Twitter
- What you should tweet about (and the subjects you should avoid)
- How to manage your time on Twitter efficiently?
- Cool tools to leverage your ‘tweets’ that allow you to do more with less
- How to use Twitter to grow your business and position you as an expert
- How to make Twitter your powerful marketing tool (and how to measure the results)
View the slides and listen to the audio below.
Audio
TODAY’S ACTION STEP
If you’re new to Twitter: Today’s Action is to watch the slides and listen to the audio of the Twitter for Business webinar above. If you do that today or over the next couple of days it should put you in a good place to be able to use Twitter more confidently moving forward.
If you’re already using Twitter: Your task is to look at whether you’ve integrated Twitter as best you can with your brand, your other social media activity and your other marketing. For example… is the brand being presented on Twitter consistent (in look, feel, tone) with your company branding and the voice that comes through when I read your emails, or visit your website. Are you promoting your Twitter activity thorough other existing marketing channels? Have you integrated your Twitter messages to Facebook (and if that’s even appropriate).
Here’s an example of integration (and repurposing content): To coincide with the daily posts to Twitter for 30 Days of Social Media I am (strategically and as part of a social media plan) posting a message here on this blog, on my Facebook profile, on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network Facebook page and (periodically and where relevant) on LinkedIn. And, I am promoting the program in the ABN’s eNewsletter, member bulletin as well as on its website. Phew!
Let me know what you discover!
Until tomorrow,
Suzi
P.S. It’s great to see some of you using the #30DSM tag when using Twitter… I’m enjoying following your conversation.
What many bloggers who praise Twitter fail you realise is that 90% of their followers are just following them for a simple reason: They already knew their blog and they liked it.
If you don’t already have a strong social media profile or blog outside Twitter to promote your new Twitter profile it will be very hard and time-consuming to get things going for you on Twitter.
I love twitter it is such a great way to kill the day.
It also seems like a good business tool for staying in touch with your customers.
Hi Shay. Thanks for your comment. I don’t totally agree… and that’s okay
Well Suzi I happened to find your site via Twitter user @Social_MediaVA & so you can see how Twitter can help you connect your content with people who may never have found you through organic searches like Google. I look forward to seeing the rest of the series on social media I just subscribed via RSS. Cheers, Gary.
I have to say I agree with Suzi about blogging and Twitter. i think one complements the other. I have far more people (excluding the marketing people) who follow me on Twitter than on my blog and I am sure that is because people like the immediacy of communication they get on Twitter compared to a blog. And I also think it’s because I use the two things for different purposes – my blog is only of interest to a very small number of people whereas I use Twitter in a more general way, likely to appeal to far more people.
Whatever tools you use, I think it takes time to build up an effective network
Watch out about registering a twitter username and “sitting” on it.
Everyone who uses twitter needs to read the following mashable post:
http://mashable.com/2009/09/13/twitter-spammers/
Domain name squatting has long been practiced by those looking to make money by snapping up desirable names in the hopes of later flipping them for a profit to interested buyers. Given the value of a good Twitter name, it’s no surprise the practice has rolled to over the micro medium as well.
But Twitter will have none of that. Name squatting is clearly spelled out as a big no-no. “You may not engage in name squatting. Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months may also be removed without further notice.”
Twitter will get suspicious based on any of these behaviors:
- the number of accounts created
- creating accounts for the purpose of preventing others from using those account names
- creating accounts for the purpose of selling those accounts
- using feeds of third-party content to update and maintain accounts under the names of those third parties