Curious about all the noise being made about Twitter I set up and account to check it out. I set up a brief profile and snooped around a little before I went back to work forgetting all about it. That is until the ‘followers’ came. Not many, but ‘followers’ all the same. I had to go back to my profile to find out what I had said that would entice anyone to follow me. What I found was nothing. A blank page. So I left it alone as I put some more thought into what I would say to my followers.
I listened to a webinar on the power of Twitter with Guy Kawasaki and was still confused on how I could use the forum to benefit Mystique Creative. He had valid points on why Twitter benefits someone like himself – high profile & in the public eye. The fact that it was free came in as the largest benefit. But I still needed to rationalize – why Twitter? Realizing that Twitter has entered the mainstream, I figure it’s time to analyze how or if I can use it in a manner to further my business goals.
Let’s start with the obvious questions: Who’s my audience? What’s my objective? How will it work with our other initiatives? And, how will do I measure success?
Who’s my Audience?
Pretty easy to break it down right now as I only have a hand-full of followers: a client, a friend who also fits into the client role, a creative writer that I’ve collaborated with for years, a talented young photographer that I met at a favourite watering hole, a freelance designer that I interviewed last year, wirelesstoys – who until they contacted me I don’t believe I’d ever heard of, and a mystery guest. What do they have in common? Me. So what kind of a message do I send them that is relative to each of them? I have no idea but I think it may be time to consider whether to incorporate a Twitter strategy into our marketing efforts.
Kawasaki is a good example of someone who has the right audience; he’s trying to get tech-savvy entrepreneurs to use his blog aggregation site to help them promote their own Web sites. With all the focus online and the audience being more tech savvy than not, it’s no wonder Twitter is driving serious traffic to his sites and he has more than 112,000 followers.
What’s my Objective?
One objective of using Twitter could be to promote Mystique Creative’s services in a time-sensitive way to create an immediate call to action. Another is to create a following of our efforts so you feel like you are in the know of what’s going on in our company. Couldn’t I simply write this in my blog? Probably. Would you still read it? At this time I believe only one of you is signed up for our newsletter and/or the rss feed of our blog. Is it worth the effort? Maybe.
How and Why
“How will I manage this Twitter initiative?” and “Why should I?” These questions are part of the same thought processes. By asking how I’ll manage my Twitter initiative, I’m forced to look at Twitter as a program or campaign, not some random thing to do in my spare time. I have better things to do in my spare time – like spending time with my wife and children or golfing.
Same goes for the “why.” Is Twitter more important than investing extra effort into website development such as search engine optimization or e-mail campaigns? (which reminds me – It’s time for another email blast) To be honest – this article was originally written to be a ‘tweet’ – until i realized that I can only post 140 characters at any given time. Too often, we get caught up with what’s cool and trendy and think we have to be a part of it. Sometimes we lose sight of what has the highest potential for ROI. And at this time I have to say ‘Fellow marketers, first things first – I’ve got an email update to write’.
Paul Bies
President,
Mystique Brand Communications
