By Kathy Colaiacovo of My Twitter VA – Follow her @mytwitrva
Twitter is now a daily part of television, radio and online news reports. News reporters or hosts on television can be heard saying statements such as “…and on Twitter today…” or “send us a message on Twitter”. It is becoming common place and many are jumping in the fray for good reason… when used properly, social media can be a great boon to your business. The key words in that statement being “used properly”.
Outsourcing tasks to specialists who have the needed skills is a solution for many when it comes to launching on the various social media channels. Outsourcing works well because you hire someone to do work more efficiently than you can, giving you more time to work on your area of expertise. After all, your time is better spent directly on the revenue generating tasks so you can grow and prosper your business.
One of the most common mistakes made when outsourcing social media work is the belief that you do not have to be involved. It’s called Social Media for a reason, you NEED to be social. It’s not a relationship if you are not involved. You are not having a conversation with someone if you have sent in a representative to speak on your behalf. To be social, certain actions must be done by you, not outsourced.
Does this mean you should never outsource any social media work? Certainly not. It simply means that when you do, you need to accept that your ‘contractor’ will be able to handle many aspects of this work but you still have a part to play.
With my clients, I act as a support manager; setting up a plan and custom profiles, linking Twitter and their other social media channels to work more efficiently, queuing up business tips to post on twitter and keeping the client on track with their social media plan. Looking after this type of work means that for 15 to 20 minutes a day my clients can go on Twitter and spend their time connecting with other people. It’s the ability to have the time to connect like this that will reveal their personality and assist in building the relationships on Twitter that can lead to business growth.
It’s important to think of your time on Twitter as online networking and you need to act the same as you do at a networking event in person. If you never speak to anyone, chances are no one will talk to you. If you send in your representative and she does all the talking, again you are not making the connections. While you are there, it is also important to say more than one thing and not to repeat yourself over and over.
Check out some of the top twitter users, and I don’t mean Ashton or Oprah… I mean people using twitter for business and making it work – @problogger, @DeniseWakeman, @LouBortone, and @MariSmith to name a few. Look at their timelines on Twitter… it is clear who they are and what they are all about, that is why Twitter is working for them.
No one else can be you. You can try it but the odds are not on your side.
@Gordie_Rogers
I find that Twitter does take a bit of time bring you new readers to a blog or new customers to a website. But the great thing is that it’s scalable. You just need the right few people to retweet your post and you could have a flood of new potential customers. However, just as important is that you communicate and not just promote. This is what I’m getting from Seth Godin’s “Tribes”.
@marismith
Excellent post, Kathy!!! Amen – I think it’s so important not to delegate your voice & certainly not to delegate your relationship building. I really appreciate your kind mention here – I’m honored!!
@emarketingva
I agree with Mari Kathy. It’s your voice and/or your companies voice period. By being consistent, predictable, relevant, and timely with your tweets you are more likely to gain a loyal (like minded) following that will add value to your twitter marketing and in turn your entire online marketing strategy.
Consultants and others who specialize in social media marketing are able to quickly evaluate your current social media state and consult with you to determine how and where to take your business relevant to your business goals and quickly choose the best techniques, tools, and services such as http://www.tweetlater.com, http://www.twaitter.com/Default.aspx, http://hootsuite.com/, http://www.themattinator.com, etc.
- Great Twitip Kathy!
@JoselinMane
Kathy,
Nice post. I think there should be more discussions about this given the our societies current fascination with Social Media in the last 6 months.
Posts like these are also great reinforcement for Internet Marketing and Social Media Consultants like myself, who discuss this on a regular basis with new clients who initially just want to simply delegate 100% of their Social Media participation.
A brand can outsource the tasks of branding & setting up the appropriate Social Media profiles, market research, some of the content creation and distribution, etc. However the true value as you mention here is in the “Social” portion of Social Media.
Otherwise it would be just be Media, which we already have enough of, and as we know media alone doesn’t grow businesses.
@JanetJanowiak
Kathy – You provide great insight into how Twitter can be used and benefitted from by businesses of all kinds everywhere. It does take expertise to create relationships and have them associate with a brand. Keep up the thoughtful work!
Janet
@jacquefairbourn
I routinely “unfollow” those that I can tell are automating everything and not truly engaged. If you don’t care enough about me as a prospective customer/client to actually interact with me why would I want to do business with you?
Businesses that only view Twitter and other social media as ways to generate immediate financial gain miss the larger opportunity. Social media allows you to:
> connect with the “thought leaders” in your niche
> establish yourself as a “thought leader”
> listen to your customer base to find what is really important to them (market research at a very attractive price)
> enjoy your business on a different plane than was previously available to you- if you don’t love your business/niche why in the world are you doing it?
Treating someone as a person, as someone worth interacting with- that’s the only way a business can expect to break through all of the marketing noise each of us is exposed to every day.
@JanetBarclay
Great post, Kathy! So many people think it’s all-or-nothing, not understanding how a VA can enhance (not replace) what they do with Twitter and other social media. You have explained it perfectly – thank you, on behalf of all of us who offer this type of service!
@maryhruth
Kathy – Thank you detailing the client/service provider relationship for social media. More needs to be done in this area, as there’s a great deal of misunderstanding, I think.
@isaacyassar
Agreed. It is very important to be yourself. Do what you think good, and avoid the things that do not interest you. Sharing your mind freely, that’s the soul of social media, true?
@alternativeoff
Nice article Kathy!
It is so important for clients to understand this. I have clients who are hesitant to “join the conversation” on the social networks. They would prefer I do it. I draw a fine line there. I Tweet their content, links, blogposts, etc. but I clarify with them that they must interact themselves to reap the full benefits of making connections, forming alliances, sharing & mentoring. AND, I stress the need for them to keep up on all Direct Messages and reply to them a.s.a.p.
@edd_at_rb
This is a really interesting discussion and one I have been reading with interest around how brands utilise Twitter.
I have been working with a global company on this very issue (the consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser) who want to use Twitter to reach out to graduates and early career professionals and have done exactly what you suggest – used the support of industry experts to ‘join the dots’ as it were with their different social media channels. But essentially all the tweeting is done by RB’s man on the ground, Edd, and it is his personality and words that are used.
It has been a learning curve for him (especially fitting it in around his day job!) but as you said: to be social, certain actions must be done by you, not outsourced.
@Tracey_D
Great post, Kathy. It really is that simple: no one else can be you! Using a VA or specialized social media expert to help you do the legwork and setup (“the hard part”) of your social marketing profiles frees you up to do the relationship building (“the fun part”)!
Excellent TwiTip – it’s one I will definitely pass along!
@DeniseWakeman
Great post, Kathy and an important topic (and thank you for keeping me on track!). I can’t imagine someone else trying to be my voice. It just doesn’t work and that is brought home time and time again when I meet twitter friends in person. They feel like they know me and my voice is the same on and offline.
Many thanks also for the mention.
Tweet on!
@myTwitrVA
Glad to see all the nice comments and support here… with many social media people it is a hot topic. Thanks everyone!
@clayfranklin
I totally agree the “no else can be you” so I will tweet this link to my followers. Of course any followers that are just robots will not see it or care. I can tell the robots by the tweets and do not auto follow so my tweet stream is not cluttered with non sense tweets even if they have @clayfranklin in them because that is a trick of some of the robots.
I am not sure how Mari Smith does it but she is so real and tweets interesting comments and articles and replies personally to those that communicate with her. Mari is an inspiration for anyone wanting to know how to tweet your brand in a way that creates a tribe of loyal followers. It sure takes a long time to review all my followers to see if to return the follow but it keeps my tweet stream full of interesting compelling things I want to read and see.
Great twittip,
Clay
@mariansparks
Hi Kathy!
How can I buck the comment trend?! Thank you for this wonderful post. You are absolutely correct–”No One Else Can Be You!” Yet, often in real life (yes, including online), people strive to be someone else or even hide who they are.
Being uniquely You is your point of differentiation in the world whether you’re running a business or not. It’s what makes You special.
And the beauty of Twitter is that it affords you the opportunity to share yourself (there goes “YOU” again) with others. Because fostering productive and sustaining relationships is about the connection, communication and interaction. And simply posting links on Twitter takes the YOU out of social media and networking. THAT
should be YOU-sourced!
@MarthaGiffen
Great post!! Twitter has taken us all by storm. Those who use it wisely will help their business grow!
@vaclassroom
Super post Kathy! You are spot on! Your role as a Social Media Specialist is to put a user-friendly system in place so that your clients can focus their energies on cultivating relationships with their target audience (JVs, Affiliates, Customers, Industry Thought Leaders).
I also believe that the business owner who spends virtually no time in Twitter will never be able to truly appreciate the full extent of the business-building benefits Twitter can bring!
Thanks for sharing your valuable insights!
Craig Cannings
@lindyasimus
Nicely done, Kathy.
I particularly like the way you have identified the discreet areas that a client can outsource, while still maintaining their personal connection with their twitter ID.
@nhendrickson1
In this social media era (SME) (helped immensely–IMHO–by the social media savvy and relationship marketing of the Obama campaign team) it’s critical to find your own voice and not just parrot the thoughts and ideas of other people. I coach clients in SMM — and yes, there are some who want me to be them –which I’ll do – - but my advice is always to take that 15 or 20 minutes a day and be YOU! Granted, their first attemps can be painfully pathetic, but after they get going the posts improve and they actually enjoy the process.. Great post – thanks for the thoughts.
@mytwitrva
Well, I must say… I really appreciate that others see the value in being ‘you’.
Thanks again for the feedback here. It has been a great experience!
@doodleworld
Being you isn’t always a good thing on the internet if being “you” isn’t pleasant…a bit off track mentally..overly sarcastic..well, you see where I am going with this. Sometimes, it is best to NOT be “you” . When running a business on the internet, we want to maintain our business personality……but I do agree that just strictly maintaining a business persona doesn’t allow people to fee comfortable with who “you” might be as a person. I like to throw a bit of myself here and there over the internet so that people can get a glimpse into some of my personal aspects of being “me”.
Sometimes divulging a bit of personal information helps people to be able to relate to you as a person. Perhaps they are going through a similar situation as you are or they have been in your shoes, so to speak. On the other hand, I must be mindful that I do run a business over the internet and my personal opinions regarding life in general, may not agree with everyone and may even offend some. So, there must be an equal, healthy balance of how much information to divulge and how much information to keep to yourself or your close, intimate friends and family and NOT share “You” with those on the internet.