I’ve been Tweeting (@loisgeller) for 2 years and I enjoy it. A lot.
But I never gave Twitter a lot of thought until the other day when my friend, Amy Africa (@amyafrica in Twitter talk), called to chat.
We talk about a lot of things but sooner or later the “How’s business?” question comes up. “Fine,” I told her, “but it could always get better.”
Amy’s an Internet marketing expert and she knows that I have 12,000 or so Twitter followers. She mentioned that having a large-ish Twitter following credentializes you. Amy tends to just mention things and let you make the connection.
I made this connection immediately. Could the time I spend on Twitter ever actually do my business any good? Twitter is big part of what we call Social Media – Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, this blog, etc., all of which I’m involved in to different degrees. Could Social Media do my agency any good?
I should know the answer but I’m not sure I do.
I write about the power of Social Media: relationships, consistency of voice, brand issues, one-to-one communication, frequency, etc. I know how to make a deal, how to close a sale.
Does all this credentializing do any good? Have I been invited to make more speeches this year than last year? Does anyone send me a Tweet asking for marketing help? No and no.
So I asked my Twitter friends if I’m missing anything. Here’s what a few of them said:
@vbpickett: “You should appreciate the great friendships” ( I do!)
@Journeywoman said “absolutely invest in Twitter time …”
@MatthewTNelson:“I have my tweetdeck open all day and I’m constantly scanning for website RFPs. When I see one interesting I reach out and connect.”
Later he tweeted that he had landed two website development contracts via Twitter in the past year.
Wow! Results. Now I have to figure out how to home in and do the same.
If you have any ideas, suggestions, advice you can share, I’d love to hear from you.
Lois, I look to twitter to see what you are up to..
I come to you blog to see how you think. And get a laugh from Amy’s replies. She says what I think in a different way…
(kind of like sending love letters to @redscarebot is for that socialist you work with)??
Articles like this one are why I prefer your blog. Although you don’t post here as frequently, it really lets me know what you are thinking about at any given time.
Don’t get me started on the SEO benefits…
Happy Friday Lois.
You’re getting a lot of visibility on Twitter Lois. Perhaps opportunities are coming your way without you realizing it.
David Frey
I found your blog through LinkedIn and I love it. I feel the same way about Twitter. I love FaceBook and LinkedIn but I could never wrap my head around Twitter. I know I have to sooner or later because I have great followers. I just started posting my blog posts to my Twitter account (@fibro2010) so hopefully that will get my blog more traffic. I do have another account (@michellearbore) for my Mary Kay business that I have to focus more on. We will see.
Nice to meet you, Eric. Thank you for coming to my blog.
Hi Lois,
I’m a first-time reader (@CASUDI) sent me the link, as she always seems to find and share great content.
. I loved the thought here, and just wanted to add that knowing more people will always be valuable to your career. Being able to build relationships for yourself and especially other people is a great ability to have and continually improve on. Twitter is one of the most efficient and effective ways to make those connections, and that is one of the main reasons I invest my time in it.
Thanks for the read! I’ll be back for sure.
Best,
Eric
I think this is a valuable post, with a really important question that everyone on twitter should ask themselves. Great comments also.
I joined twitter never thinking I would find an Architectural Design client (and I still haven’t…!), however, the article by Guy which I read prior to joining, was pushing twitter for business. My initial focus was strictly research oriented; what is it; how is it use;, can people actually make money, find clients, get projects; what is the best use; and on and on…… I needed to get up to speed on what was going on in this new “social media” universe, and I was really curious if twitter was anything similar to the predictions we made when consulting for Mobile-Everywhere over 5 years ago
I think I have accomplished what I set out to do; research and learn. Maybe as time goes on it will be proven to be much more than what I initially discovered, if (big if) the company I am founding with a person I met on twitter takes off. Time will tell. Ironically, the new company has nothing to do with architectural design, and everything to do with mobile commerce!
I think what your twitter persona proves is how really knowledgeable and cool you are. This can be continuous reinforcement for your clients (assuming they are on twitter…mine were not), or know people who know you. Amy would probably dispute this, noting that is not enough for the time spent; however, you never know when something you are doing will really pay off. It’s great that you are having so much fun doing it, and my sense is, that for what and how you are, it will. I could be at a car show next weekend, and meet some new people, and (reporter interviewer that I am), find out they are looking for exactly your services, and recommend you, flat out. I have recommended others I have met on twitter when I found a correct fit in an area of expertise someone was looking for, so this is definitely within the realm of possibility
CASUDI
building bridges between people – designing success
Well, let me know, Terri. I am not sure that tweeting at special times makes a difference. 5 minutes? Hmmm…
I know I spend hours on it.
If I don’t check into Twitter I might not know what you’re up to , Terri?
Lois:
You are not alone in your questions about Twitter. I’ve found that it all comes down to what your expectations are and how you have incorporated it into your overall marketing strategy. There are so many issues surrounding Twitter and it’s usefulness. Is a following of 12,000 who are not in your target audience better than a following of 1,000 or 500 who are your key targets? Are you trying to find customers or build credibility. Are you using it to drive traffic to your other social media platforms like your blog, facebook or your web site?
Someone told me that we should spend only 5 minutes a day on each of our social media sites. Five minutes!!! It takes longer than that to log in and load the programs half the time. But, I’ve been working harder to schedule posts when the most people are reading tweets rather than my normal middle of the night routine. I am spending less time on a more focused approach. Will it turn into customers? Only time will tell.
So glad to have met you there!
To a large degree, I’m on Twitter because I feel obligated… just about everyone else is on, so I should be. After a year of being on Twitter, though, I’m not a big fan.
But I’ve come to accept that it has a certain role, just not the one most of us think of when we signed up.
1. Whenever I post a link to an article on my blog, I immediately get hit by the search engine bots. And as social media content becomes more valuable in search results (fresh content vs. content that’s years old), this is important.
2. I have trouble believing anyone really “follows” people on Twitter to any great degree. There are some exceptions, but Twitter reminds me of a football stadium full of people all talking about something at the same time. When that happens, no one is really listening.
That’s why point #1 is important to me. It’s almost like a happy bonus if any of my followers read the tweet because the value to me is in the search aspect, whether through the major search engines or via Twitter search.
3. While I don’t feel I’m making deep connections with people through Twitter, I do learn things or run across links to articles that people have posted. So there’s value in that.
But I find Facebook allows me to better have an actual conversation with someone which is what I want to get from social media… meaningful connections and interactions. As you can tell from the length of this post, brevity and 140 characters is not to my liking.
4. On this point, everyone will have a different experience, but I’ve noticed that almost all my clients aren’t on Twitter. They’re too busy doing what they do. And if they are on Twitter, they’re not really interacting… they’re just wanting people to follow them.
So if my belief is that I’m going to land my best clients by being on Twitter, well… I’m not so sure.
If I want to reach my ideal clients, I need to be where they are and, to a large degree, Twitter isn’t it.
Obviously some people land great jobs via Twitter or it leads to something good. In my case, though, it hasn’t worked that way.
Generally, I’m not down on Twitter if people like it and find value with it. For personally, if Twitter disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn’t shed a tear.
Hi Lois,
You are asking the questions everyone on twitter should ask themselves. Twitter is what it is. And, that is different for everyone.
For me personally, it is a way to connect with good friends like you and Amy. It also helps me stay on top of my marketing game. The people I follow are incredible. They share links publicly and privately that I might have missed in my regular Google life. The best stuff is rarely on the first page. Sometimes, it’s not in the first ten pages!
Professionally, I’ve been able to expand my business by helping my clients with their social media entry and participation. You know that I am a die hard direct marketing gal, so everything I do is a test of some sort. I share the lessons I learn with my clients, in my guides, and in my public content. I have days that I love Twitter and days I detest it. Most days though, I am in awe of the accessibility and connections it provides.
The best advice I can give anyone thinking about using Twitter for business is to think about what you want to accomplish before you start. Then, test it to see if your customers/prospects are there and interested in connecting with you. (“Connecting” not “following” There’s a big difference.) If it works keep going. If it doesn’t, take some time off and then try again.
Thank you for writing a post that will hopefully make people stop and think about what they are doing and why.
Hi Lois!
Thanks for the shout out in your blog post, caught that in my feed last night on my phone, very cool. Twitter is one of those things that I find very useful with the right tool set because it saves me time by allowing me to aggregate a lot of information feed quickly all day every day. It’s almost a little addicting in a way. It allows me to communicate with a large audience efficiently and actively patrol for RFP leads. To date I have been in the final running for 8 contracts that were leads that I got from Twitter (you already know I got 2 of those) but even more valuable than that is the knowledge and experience I have gained in going through that process to continue to hone in the pricing and value proposition for the website development work that I do.
Oh, Amy Girl…you do make me laugh! Maybe I am afflicted with the Twitter Bird Flu!
I thank you for being a great friend and opening my eyes often to things I don’t see…and always doing it so subtly, that sometimes it takes a day or two for me to “get” your point.
Twitter is not my thing. Frankly, I am just not that interesting. Yes, I said interesting but interested also applies.
Lois, you said Twitter is your “video game.” I have respect for that. You give new meaning to people-person and it’s obvious that you’ve made a lot of buddies on Twitter.
My question to you was whether or not it was right for YOUR business. If Twitter is your relaxation/fun thing for the day (kind of like sending love letters to @redscarebot is for that socialist you work with), it’s one thing, but if you are using it to get business and you’ve gotten none, is it worth it? How much time should you spend before you move on? You are the Queen of Direct Marketing, if you rent 10,000 names from a list of a bazillion people and it flops, how many times do you keep mailing it?
Thanks for this post. You know I adore you, even though most days I really do wish there was an antibiotic for the Twitter Bird Flu you have.