Using Twitter: Listen before you Tweet

• By: Karen J. Marchetti
• On: 04/20/2009 19:39:43
• In: Social Media

So you're thinking about tweeting . . . what should you do first?

Rodney Rumford (www.twitterbusinessbook.com) says to define your goals first -- have a strategy for using Twitter.  It may be just to listen to what's being said about your company, brand, industry -- or the competition. 

Setup your Twitter account, and select people to follow.  Watch how people use Twitter.  And when you're ready to add to the "Tweet-Stream", Rodney says:

Be sure you add value!   Twitter is not for the "hard sell."   Refer people to other information you know about that may be helpful to them.  Then maybe after you've produced 6 helpful "added value" tweets, then maybe refer to your site in the next Twitter message.

So the idea is to become a resource and add value FIRST. 

One thing I was most excited about:  Rodney says that 77% of Twitter users are bloggers -- they already have an audience!   They gather information on Twitter, and then blog about it.  This is why Twitter has been called "word of mouth marketing -- on steroids."   On Twitter, you may find evangelists for your company or brand.  And those influential people who are bloggers can really help spread the word about your latest cool product or promotion, useful white paper or interesting feature on your web site.

One caution:  there is no longer any such thing as a "private discount code."  If you put a code out there (even "just to your in-house customer list"), you can be sure everyone will know about it (which might be a great thing, as long as you plan for that positive pass-along). 

To read a longer summary of the Twitter presentation, visit the San Diego Software Industry Council page on Facebook (www.facebook.com).    See Discussion: Twitter for the full recap.