 You hear about it all the time. In the newspaper, on tv, from your friends... you can't escape those little blue birds. You probably think exactly what I thought a while ago - shut up about stupid Twitter already! I have no interest in sharing every minor detail of my life online, and I certainly don't want read about every time Grandma has a cup of coffee. Twitter is such a stupid idea; what has our society come to?!
Despite being in the web industry, I had no interest in Twitter until I finally had that AHA! moment.
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Twitter is a custom newspaper published just for me and in real time. It is available whenever and wherever I may be.
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I'm not sure the folks at Twitter even realized what they had... but what they created essentially replaces newspapers, Google News, RSS feeds, newsletters, and more in a simple, easy, and convenient interface. For small businesses, it can be a wonderfully useful marketing tool.
So what is Twitter?
Twitter allows you to "follow" others. You may choose to follow Google, particular technology groups as well as marketing groups as I do. You may choose to follow Paris Hilton and the National Enquirer if that is your thing. You, as a user, have full discretion on what type of information is given to you... you create your own newspaper. You may choose to be notified upon each new "tweet" (news posting), or at some regular interval, or turn off notifications entirely (as I do) to simply read news at your own convenience. If one of those sources tweets too often, or isn't providing good content you can "unfollow" them so that they are no longer shown in your feed. The flexibility makes the platform quite powerful and the result is a live stream of news that ONLY contains topics to which you are interested... if your Twitter is stupid - it is because you are following stupid people.
Why business newsletters suck
I learned quite a long time ago to NEVER NEVER NEVER subscribe to email lists.
- I hate the chore of opening my email only to find piles of newsletters to have to sift through.
- Even more, I hate when a company decides that simply because I do business with them that I would love to receive SPAM from them.
- Worst of all, it is impossible for me to ensure that these companies respect my information, don't sell my email, and don't over-email.
- From a small business perspective, newsletters are too much work, too much headache, and too much cost, for too little return.
I learned quite a long time ago to NEVER NEVER NEVER subscribe to email lists. The unfortunate side effect of that decision was that I missed out on interesting news that I actually may have been interested in. Twitter resolves all of this. By allowing the user to have full control and digest information at their own pace, Twitter completely changes the game. I can now follow and interact more with businesses without any of the issues above.
Kill your business' newsletter and move to Twitter
- Newsletters are expensive and difficult to produce. You usually have to pay a third party to manage the subscribers. Newsletters create an unnecessary, and regular, chore of putting together a good looking, well edited, and interesting pile of content. Why not save your money and save the hassle by simply using a better medium?
- Your customers prefer Twitter. You should cater to them.
- Twitter can feed into your Facebook Fan Page - allowing you to reach more people with less work.
- Twitter is interactive. Ever wonder what your readers think when you send a newsletter? Ever feel like you are talking to a wall? Wish you could better leverage the community you have put together surrounding your business? Since Twitter is a two-way communication platform, you will get near instant feedback from your community when you send out news. This allows you to identify problems more quickly for resolution as well as identify successes more quickly.
- You can publish more often and in a less formal environment. You don't need perfect spelling or grammar. If you are a restaurant that has a pile of limes about to go bad you could post "House margaritas half off - tonight only!" within minutes... straight from your cell phone.
- Twitter can be an event calendar. If you are a theater, you might use Twitter to publish upcoming shows (being in Denver, I follow Red Rocks Ampitheater to find out about shows without having to visit their website).
- Turn every day customers into powerful advocates for your business. By interacting more, providing Twitter coupons / giveaways, and simply engaging your audience more, your business can become the water cooler discussion which drives more business.
- Almost no technical expertise is necessary. Sign up is easy, and within minutes, you are setup as a publisher and can post from the web or your phone... anywhere anytime.
As I read over this article, it occurs to me that it may look like I was hired by Twitter to write this article. Of course that isn't the case... it is simply the fact that Twitter is such a slam dunk that it astounds me how many businesses are missing out on this great opportunity. My suggestion is that if your business isn't on Twitter, you should get on today. If your business is already on Twitter - perhaps you can take advantage of some of the ideas outlined here to better leverage its power. Put Twitter stickers on your storefront, put it on all your business cards and advertisements, put it on your receipts, and of course, happy tweeting!
Jonathan Stanley has been beaten with OSCommerce, hardened with PPC bid jamming, encouraged by GNU GPL, enlightened with Joomla!, streamlined with Virtuemart, frustrated by India, redeemed by SEO, upgraded with 3dCart, saved by Magento, infuriated by IE and CSS, validated by the W3C, networked with Facebook and Twitter, and will tell anyone "I Love LAMP."
Need help getting started or boosting your Twitter? Schedule a call with him.
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