The other day someone asked me what the secret to Twitter was? Guess what, it’s the same as on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social networking/media sites. Provide value to others and you will eventually benefit in return. Eventually might be right away or it might be a year from now.
On LinkedIn I can answer a question in depth, I can write a detailed recommendation, and post discussion questions and information in groups. In each I have time to lay out a set of facts and follow up with information to support the point or to share information.
On Twitter you can pretty much put a short statement out and that’s it. 140 characters doesn’t seem like a lot, but you can accomplish a lot with brevity.
The number one use I see in using Twitter is to share information. It might be a link to an interesting news article, it might be a quick answer, or it might be a link to one of my blog posts where I can provide valuable information.
For me that’s the value. I can capture attention and clicks to my site by writing a good headline tweet and directing people to my blog. The responder benefits from the information I share in my blog post. I benefit by adding blog visitors that hopefully find value and continue to return.
It all comes back to providing value. If I disguise a spam post as a legitimate post over time I’ll render my account worthless. That’s why you see a lot of the same links to spam posted by different “people”. Ever notice that the pictures normally all look like young models? Profile photo’s straight from istockphoto.
If I provide value though then my credibility is enhanced and the next time I post a link to a new blog post, I’m likely to get a return visit. Even better I may wind up with several retweets which helps spread my link and further increase traffic.
As a final word, I use Twitter for business purposes only. I don’t post that I’m enjoying a latte at Starbucks…who cares. Maybe if I were Chris Brogan that might be news. He’s built his brand and people are interested in whatever he does. People read my blog to know how to more effectively use LinkedIn and other social media. I know my place.
Think about why you are on Twitter, and if it’s a business purpose, act appropriately. Post Tweets that support your brand, provide value, share good information, and be yourself.
What do you think?
Social Media Sonar provides the following four resources for FREE… 1. The Blog, 2. The Online Marketing/Social Media Blueprint, 3. Conversion Rate Optimization Guide, 4. Resource Center. If these help you implement your own online marketing program, great. We love helping people. If you decide you need some help, great. We love new clients. Contact Us if we can help you.
Related posts:
About Sean Nelson
Sean,
Another great post with great information! Social media is definitely the most effective when a “give to get” philosophy is practiced.
I’m guessing that most of your blog readers are “LinkedIn people” since that’s how your blog started. If so, people should take advantage of LinkedIn’s feature to incorporate up to 3 websites on your profile by making one of them your twitter address.
It’s a great way to add followers who you already know through LinkedIn.
Regards,
Arthur Catalanello
http://www.linkedin.com/in/arthurcatalanello
http://www.visualcv.com/acatalanello
http://twitter.com/acatalanello
Most are LinkedIn and I agree they should have three weblinks on the profile. If you only have a website add your Twitter profile or other social networking links.
Sean
Thank you Andrerre for the RT.
Good info and would like to see more on the challenges below. I think the biggest challenge is to get good quality local followers and in my example I would not normally be looking for people that are located beyond 50 miles. Now we have had people that come to our dental practice here in Suwanee, GA from other states and countries but that is not the usual case.
Once you have the followers the other big challenge is how do you keep them engaged and wanting to read your tweets and keep coming back. There seems to be a lot of info and “noise” when you follow a lot of people.
So how is Twitter working for other local businesses ?
Dr. Ushma Patel
Center for Advanced Dentistry
http://www.hitechsmiles.com
Ushma,
The first thing to remember its not a negative to be followed or follow someone outside of your area. You never know where value will come from. It could be someone local stumbles onto your profile in another persons (who is outside of your area) profile. so I say follow away and the worst thing that can happen is that the connection isn’t relevant.
As you add people it does make tweets cycle through more quickly. You can find programs that allow you to see the tweets of only selected people you follow. Personally I don’t use them. I simply scan 20 to 40 tweets periodically through the day to see if anything catches my eye.
I also have specific topics I am interested in that I keep tabs with by searching for tweets with that hash tag.
As far as people coming back to my tweets, I try to provide value through my blog which many of my tweets reference. If people like your content they will click on your profile to look at some of your tweets. For the rest it just depends upon whether or not your tweet is relevant if they see it.
There may be a lot of noise but good content can break through and generate attention and drive traffic.
Sean
Spot on Sean — couldn’t agree more with your assessment of deciding how/why you want to use Twitter. It’s the same for me ….. that is, business purpose only. Provide value and share good information.
Bill,
Thanks for the comments. Besides Twitter most of my other social media is for business reasons as well.
sean
I disagree with any assertion that a Twitter account that is for business purposes should only post business related content… and yes, people do care if you’re enjoying a latte at Starbucks if the context is right for your audience and you have built a personal conversation around your tweets. There are many people who don’t like following accounts that only post “information” as opposed to thoughts, opinions, etc. It’s what Twitter is all about.
Johnny,
The beauty of a blog is with comments every statement or comment I make can be challenged, critiqued, or disagreed with. I do agree that some level of personal sharing can be good, though a lot depends, like you say, on your audience. I don’t want to hear about that latte but maybe you and some others are ok with it.
The key is “if the context is right”. I still prefer primarily business related tweets but each to their own.
Thanks for adding to the conversation.
Sean