Over the last week you probably read more than three articles telling you either how Twitter was the greatest thing ever or the pending Twitpocalypse was going to destroy Facebook, Blogs and the mass media.
Stripped of all the hype Twitter is a simple tool, designed to send short, succinct messages between people who value each other's views and experiences. You have 140 characters to send a statement to everyone who cares to read your comments.
The value in Twitter comes in three ways: who you follow, who follows you, and what you tweet.
From a business point of view, it gives you a direct link to your customers and fans and gives them the opportunity to spread good news about your business. You can think of it being a mini newsletter that people can pass around.
At the same time, you listen to what people are saying about your business and products.
The problem with Twitter is the number of mindless dills posting rubbish, but one man's trash is another's gold.
My favourite example is pointless twitterers telling the world about shampooing their cats, but that's not fair. I've never shampooed a cat, so I have no idea if the feline grooming business is big or not.
It may well be there's a huge cat shampooing market waiting to be tapped and millions of cashed up customers are begging for a twitter hash tag on the topic.
Who knows? It could be true in your industry too.
To use it, just go to the Twitter site and register a name. You may want to use your business name or one of the products you're best known for - just watch out for trademark issues.
The beauty of Dell's $US3 million in revenues from Twitter sales is that the Twitter account has cost them nothing but the time of one of their marketing people.
Twitter isn't going to replace Facebook or Google any more than it's going to replace direct mail or the local classifieds. It's simply a different channel to get your message across.
So give it go, follow some interesting people and post a few of your own opinions and business offers. You never know, you might beat Dell's $US3 million in Twitter sales.
Paul Wallbank is a speaker, writer and broadcaster on technology and business. He grew PC Rescue into a national IT company and set up the IT Queries website. Paul has a regular ABC spot on technology matters.
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written by Craig Reardon, June 23, 2009
written by Walter Adamson, June 23, 2009
1. Marketers approaching Twitter "as simply a different channel to get your message across" are going to do a disservice if not great damage to their brands and reputation. The #1 message for marketers should be that social media such as Twitter are NOT just another PUSH channel.
2. To imply that Dell used Twitter this way, and it was the cause of their "success" is just completely wrong and conveys the wrong ideas to those wishing to learn from Dell.
Dell took a very well thought out approach to engaging with their customers through social media. Their goal with Twitter and other social media sites is to gain share of mind and branding with influencers - NOT to push a message through a "channel". They set about creating conversations with consumers that were important from a branding perspective. That starts out by listening - not by pushing out marketing messages.
3. The notion that it "cost them nothing" is also misleading as unless you think though the consequences of beginning such engagement, say through Twitter, then it can cost you a lot more than you are prepared to give. How will you engage? What will be to dialog topics? How will you manage and respond to people who respond? Which parts of the organisation will need to be aligned with this initiative and how will that be socialised and supported? Dell thought this through, and then tacked it on at marginal cost to an already well-oiled machine. This well-oiled machine does not exists in most organisations.
Engaging with social media is changing the whole marketing and sales world, and it can be tried in incremental steps and improved and refined as we learn. But like most things a short sharp plan and realistic expectations are the key to its business success.
Walter Adamson @g2m
Social Media Academy (Australia)
http://www.socialmedia-academy.com.au
written by Paul Wallbank, July 06, 2009
Thanks for your comments, although the accusation of misleading people is a bit harsh and you may want to reconsider personal attacks like that in future posts you make on websites.
You'll find no disagreement with me on your observations, what a organisation does on or offline needs to be in line with their corporate values as well as their marketing messages.
I'm sure you'll agree with me that tools such as Twitter represent a fantastic opportunity for entrepreneurs and Dell's example shows how an well thought out strategy can work.
My line about "costing them nothing" is about the cost of Dell's Twitter account itself. That is quite clear in the article.
Mis-quoting me and then accusing me of misleading readers is particularly unfortunate and it would be a good idea to take a deep breath before hitting the "Add Comment" button in future.
I look forward to reading more of your valuable comments in future, but please refrain from unnecessary personal attacks.
Kind regards,
Paul Wallbank
