Back @cha: Using Twitter to Help Make My Business Better @ambercadabra of Radian6 issued a challenge: instead of blogging about how to use twitter, blog about how twitter can help make your business better. After all, twitter is a tool, not a dance craze. (Good thing. I dance like Nixon.)  Here, then, as a free-lance copywriter, is my response:  1.  I don’t read twitter. I mine it for business intelligence.  Scanning my twitter feed,  I discover information other people have found helpful, tips other people have found useful, and work other people find inspiring.  (See, for example:  these web designs or these iphone screen savers.) I’m constantly learning things from users. (I probably would not otherwise have seen this combination of flickr, data modeling and visualization.) Other times, twitter usefully reinforces what I already know: use strong specific calls to action. Listen to people who can help me succeed. We overestimate new information and underestimate reminders.   Twitter has even taught me the importance of staying off twitter. 2. As a marketing tool, Twitter is the kid with the megaphone standing in front of the newspaper. Twitter by itself will strand me on the “Awareness” step of the continuum.  (See Flintstone-quality graphic of my marketing process.) If I hope to procure any business from all this bother, I need to do more.   I’ve noticed that many of the people whose presence on twitter I value most also have blogs. (See, for example, the AxiomPR blog or Cision’s blog.) 3. Twitter has not supplanted blogs. Rather, twitter takes some of the pressure off blogs. For too long, we have been using blogs to build awareness when we should be using them to deepen consideration. 4.  Social and digital media line up nicely with the marketing continuum, (the five step version that splits consideration into interest and preference):  awareness/twitter interest/blogging consideration/web site purchase/powerpoint loyalty/service (and great service is the ultimate social media.)  You can then use LinkedIn to make sure you don’t forget about your customers and enewsletters to make sure they don’t forget about you. 5. In the current economy, I suspect the process of turning twitter followers into business associates—allies, clients, experts—requires even more patience than usual. Statistics suggest that relationships matter more these days in full time hiring. I imagine something similar is true of partner and project hiring.    I don’t have a tight plan to prompt specific actions. Rather, I see a loose, generous ecology of connections that can enhance and, possibly, expand my business.  6 The cast, (roughly) in order of appearance:  All the links in this post—and I few I cut for space—came from information I gathered from these people on twitter.  @AmberCadabra, @cazmaraline, @ilovetypography, @leeodden, @AndreaMeyer, @justbecos, @DrewGneiser, @hksully And I’m @kevinfentonbiz

Back @cha: Using Twitter to Help Make My Business Better

@ambercadabra of Radian6 issued a challenge: instead of blogging about how to use twitter, blog about how twitter can help make your business better.

After all, twitter is a tool, not a dance craze. (Good thing. I dance like Nixon.) 

Here, then, as a free-lance copywriter, is my response: 

1.  I don’t read twitter. I mine it for business intelligence. 

Scanning my twitter feed,  I discover information other people have found helpful, tips other people have found useful, and work other people find inspiring.  (See, for example:  these web designs or these iphone screen savers.)

I’m constantly learning things from users. (I probably would not otherwise have seen this combination of flickr, data modeling and visualization.)

Other times, twitter usefully reinforces what I already know: use strong specific calls to action. Listen to people who can help me succeed. We overestimate new information and underestimate reminders.  

Twitter has even taught me the importance of staying off twitter.

2. As a marketing tool, Twitter is the kid with the megaphone standing in front of the newspaper.

Twitter by itself will strand me on the “Awareness” step of the continuum.  (See Flintstone-quality graphic of my marketing process.) If I hope to procure any business from all this bother, I need to do more.  

I’ve noticed that many of the people whose presence on twitter I value most also have blogs. (See, for example, the AxiomPR blog or Cision’s blog.)

3. Twitter has not supplanted blogs. Rather, twitter takes some of the pressure off blogs.

For too long, we have been using blogs to build awareness when we should be using them to deepen consideration.

4.  Social and digital media line up nicely with the marketing continuum, (the five step version that splits consideration into interest and preference): 

  • awareness/twitter
  • interest/blogging
  • consideration/web site
  • purchase/powerpoint
  • loyalty/service (and great service is the ultimate social media.) 

You can then use LinkedIn to make sure you don’t forget about your customers and enewsletters to make sure they don’t forget about you.

5. In the current economy, I suspect the process of turning twitter followers into business associates—allies, clients, experts—requires even more patience than usual.

Statistics suggest that relationships matter more these days in full time hiring. I imagine something similar is true of partner and project hiring.   

I don’t have a tight plan to prompt specific actions. Rather, I see a loose, generous ecology of connections that can enhance and, possibly, expand my business. 

6 The cast, (roughly) in order of appearance: 

All the links in this post—and I few I cut for space—came from information I gathered from these people on twitter. 

@AmberCadabra, @cazmaraline, @ilovetypography, @leeodden, @AndreaMeyer, @justbecos, @DrewGneiser, @hksully

And I’m @kevinfentonbiz