Twitip

Most users of Twitter and other social media sites would agree that it’s about communication. What does that mean? Dictionary.com would say “the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information.” Are you doing that – exchanging thoughts and opinions? Or, are you trying to sell your product/service by bombarding your followers with sales pitches and product promotions?

YOU vs. ME
Consider this. Are you using “I” or “we” more than “you” and “your”? Likewise, how much to do you enjoy sitting with someone, a stranger perhaps, and listening to them talk all about themselves and how wonderful they or their business are? Not very much. That’s the way sales via Twitter come across. If you’re constantly talking about yourself, not sharing information or news, etc. people will start to tune you out and your following will dwindle.

Presentation is Everything
This is not to say that you can’t participate in business and foster relationships on Twitter and beyond. You can, but presentation is everything.

As with most communication in life, the way we say/present comments has the power to drastically change the conversation.

Consider this… if a parent told their child they were an accident, the child could bear feelings of sadness or feel like they weren’t/aren’t wanted. Instead, if the parent said they were a surprise, the child could feel special or just accept it and move on. It’s a simple change, but words (and phrases) have power.

Power to Stir Emotion
As mentioned above, words have the power to stir emotion. Written correctly, a tweet can lead to a positive, emotionally-based response. Perhaps you’re filling a void, fixing a problem or offering a solution. These could all lead to thanks, follows and RTs. Emotion is involved in everything we do, use it carefully.

Power to Elicit a Bond
Similarly, words and communication have the power to elicit a bond. This is the hope of all Twitter users – to be connected to someone else. It could be as simple as attending or being a fan of the college or sharing similar interests. In terms of using this for business, Fiskers and their Fiskateers are a great example. See our blog post about Spike Jones’ presentation or visit their site. People unite around common interests.

Power for Good and Power for Evil (aka uselessness in this case)
Twitter has the power to be good and be used well or the power to be useless blips of non-information. Consider what you tweet and when you share it. Does it relate to things you usually talk about? That’s what you’re followers are interested in. Is it timely and provide information or resources or is it like those horrible forwarded emails from Aunt Gert that you delete before reading?

A good examples of using the power of Twitter for good are the mass amounts of money raised for Haiti after the earthquake. Thousands of quick RTs will lead to the aid of many more.

Conversely, a bad example is that of the tweet by the first person Conan O’Brien followed – recently amassing +18,000 followers – “yumm… Twizzlers”. I bet all her followers were happy to receive that.

Be mindful and consider your tweets and posts before sending them out to the web. If you’re representing a business or product/service, don’t push, push, push until you push everyone away. Engage with them. Talk to people and determine their interests and perhaps some you share. Fostering a relationship leads to communication – the real kind.