Why Twitter? Why should you bother? What is its purpose? Business people often say that Twitter is not an effective form of social networking or they question how you can really gain anything from typing 140 character updates all day long. As one person said, “Why do I care who is eating a sandwich or going to bed?” (This person is obviously not a Twitter user!)
Do You Listen to the Radio?
This article will focus on why to use Twitter for business. For those who don’t understand the purpose of Twitter, it helps to think of it as a radio station. As the DJ’s talk and talk, they hope that people are listening, following and finding their chatter useful or interesting. With Twitter, you hope that your 140 character updates will be followed, useful to others and noticed (or re-tweeted and replied to).
Radio stations differ based on their target audience (Sports, Jazz, News, Rock), and because of this they attract different listeners. It’s the same with Twitter. Each person on Twitter is speaking to a different target audience and will be followed by those who find their message appealing. For example, a financial expert is going to tweet about finances and attract followers who find his or her information compelling. A technical guru will tweet about the latest software and hardware reviews.
Educate Your Followers
Twitter allows you to take your 140 characters to post pictures, articles, videos and websites to support or educate your followers. Educating your followers makes you more credible, valuable and informative. Your Twitter feed can offer links to a wealth of knowledge. And you can enhance other tweets by giving more information, elaborating on what is said and providing a visual.
Stay Top of Mind
You can also use Twitter as one more way to let your customers hear from you each day, not in an overbearing way, but as someone who provides valuable content in a shared area of interest. You can link your Twitter account to your e-mails, LinkedIn, Facebook, and everything that people see from you or your company. Connecting is key to staying top of mind. Just think, your customers will be hearing from you in 140 character bursts every time you post a tweet. That is a great way to stay connected, be seen as a guru in your field and build credibility. It’s not that different from the way radio stations use commercials to remind listeners that they are out there.
Perhaps now you have an answer to the why Twitter question. And you can see that it’s not a waste of time. You can follow me on Twitter @rebekahgeldart.
Why do you use Twitter? Comment below.
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Rebekah Geldart is a young business woman immersed in the ever changing world of a multi-generational workforce. She is a social media guru who helps others understand the best practices of social media and its use in business. She works as a Business Development Manager/Media Relations for Eagle’s Flight and is the author of a successful social media blog. You can connect with Rebekah via the following links:
I twitter ( http://twitter.com/NudistPoet ) because I’m a Creative Adventurer and like to share whatever I create and whatever I’m thinking. I recently hit my TWELVE HUNDREDTH tweet. Obviously, I’m hooked on twitter