How useful is Twitter to you and your business? In this brief post, I share what I have found to be the best way to get the maximum results from your Twitter account.
Twitter is a great tool, but the magic is in the people
Many business owners seem to think of Twitter almost exclusively, as a way to build networks, drive traffic to websites and share interesting links and messages with their followers. As I saw yet again recently, Twitter can be so much more than that. The key for me, is to remember always that Twitter is just a tool and that the REAL magic of Twitter, is in the people behind those @usernames and avatars. These people can be pure gold.
Let me just quantify that: The people who network with me on Twitter are one of the most valuable resources my business has.
Twitter & targeted crowd sourcing
As some of you may already know, yesterday 10-10-10, I launched a new social media project on the Jim Connolly website. It’s really exciting! Anyhow, because this project is based on a new idea, I needed to find a way to explain it to people, as clearly as possible. After writing the initial draft of the site’s about page, which explains everything (you can read it here), I asked people, via twitter, for their feedback. I wanted to know what the message said to THEM. I received responses from people in different areas of industry, different countries, different ages – You get the idea. They were also the exact kind of people (small business owners) who would most benefit from this new social media project.
As a direct result of the feedback I received, I was able to launch the site and project yesterday, knowing in advance that I had a clear message. As a result, the launch was as smooth as silk and the response was fantastic!
Twitter and human engagement
In my experience, Twitter only becomes truly valuable to you and your business, when you focus on the people and NOT the tool itself. All day long, I see business owners on Twitter obsessing about plugins, apps and sites that measure their influence. They look for software that automates their Tweets and automates their following and unfollowing. I even saw a top social media guru asking his followers if it was “OK” for him to send some automated tweets.
It’s correct, of course, to use the right tools but only if they help the real you, connect with the real people that are interested enough to follow you and engage with you. The automated experience may attract others with a similar approach, but it will miss the mark completely, with those REAL people, who want to connect on a more human level.
What kind of people do YOU connect with on Twitter and why?
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