Twitip

Whether reading an article or having a conversation with people (face-to-face) and reading/hearing the phrase “It’s just twitter,” irritates me–especially when it’s drenched in a condescending tone. I find that people who have muttered this phrase don’t understand the power of twitter and what it can really do for your brand, business and/or service or product. Having a networking tool available at your fingertips that can reach the far ends of the globe and back within seconds is a phenomenal thing. But just how can twitter be effectively used and what exactly is the power of twitter?

Twitter alone can’t do anything for you so don’t just sign up and expect miracles to happen, there has to be a purpose behind the tweets; this isn’t the Wizard of Oz, folks. I recently had a conversation with a top executive who wasn’t familiar with twitter and he immediately stated how Ashton Kutcher was the best twitterer in the land because he had millions of followers and that’s how the game was played. I disagreed and immediately named six people who had far less followers who were using twitter in ways that were truly engaging and changing the world in a positive way. Now, I have nothing against @aplusk but what he does with his twitter account is give the average Joe a glimpse into the life of a mega star. In researching for this article, I popped over to Ashton’s page (I don’t follow him) and saw that he’s in Russia–from his tweets, twitpics and constant hashtags on #rustechdel I didn’t see him tweet back to any of his followers. But if you pop over to, let’s say, @AbiolaTV, you’ll find a different twitter atmosphere, a place where it’s not all about Abiola, but about her followers as noted by every other tweet she’s engaging with them and at over 4,400 followers–she’s doing a great job. What is she doing with her twitter page? She’s motivating people, inspiring them to get to the next level and when one of her followers gets a tweet back from her–her brand name strengthens because Abiola Abrams isn’t just talking the talk–she’s skipping, hopping and running the walk–right along with her loyal followers.

And this is just one example of how twitter can reinforce your brand. But still, what exactly can twitter do for you? In the case of Abiola, because she engages with her audience and has a great Abiola to audience tweeting ratio (that’s the amount of tweets you send out that are about you vs the amount of tweets you send out that engages with your audience directly) when she has an event or just goes out in New York city–her followers come along for the ride. With a simple yet powerful tweet, she can fill a room, event or any gathering because people want to be around her and she reaches out through twitter and ropes her audience–in which in turn strengthens her brand because she is her brand and her brand is her business; she’s an author, director, reality star (Miss Picky on VH1’s Tough Love) and her main power source has been twitter.

For me, as a dating/relationship blogger, I want people to come to my blog, read it and hopefully leave a comment. If all I did daily was send out tweets on new blog posts–eventually people would unfollow me and boycott my blog. But instead, I use twitter to ruffle a few feathers in the dating world and help people in their dating quests. I tweet out surveys, other people’s blogs, and various dating articles while also interjecting a few personal tweets on my own dating mishaps–which really stirs up the pot. I get replies from people in South Africa, Australia, and Brazil (to name a few) who all want to know–”Nando, I’m going on my first date tomorrow and I don’t know what to say to him, HELP!” I then throw it back onto the Twitterverse, @blahblahblah needs 1st time dating tips–what do you suggest? And before I know it–I’ve engaged and created a mini group of followers that have empowered themselves.

A few weeks ago I got a tweet from a friend who asked me to help out in a crisis situation–as a little 15 year-old boy in Australia was tweeting about suicide because his family wasn’t accepting of his being gay. I didn’t know what do. So I got out my video camera and created this video, and since then, I’ve gotten several e-mails, tweets and youtube comments on how the video was helpful–the little boy is doing good and regularly tweets with me. I also used twitter to tweet out this video when the Haiti earthquake occurred to help locate a friend’s family. I got several retweets on it and BBC America came across the video and used a chuck of it  for a piece on the earthquake and social media.

That, my friend, is the power of Twitter–to engage, empower and inspire. Not everyone will follow this path, but you can certainly see where “It’s just Twitter” doesn’t cut it for me. And because of twitter I’ve gotten so many opportunities like interviewing celebrities like Jackie Collins (Best Selling Author), Alison Sweeney (Days of our Lives), and Maria Menounos (Entertainment Correspondent on Access Hollywood) so the perks are amazing. Now I ask you–what will you be doing with the power of Twitter?