Twitter is an amazingly easy way to inform a group of people about something or inspire them to take action. The concept is micro-blogging, sending a 140 character or fewer messages to followers to get them to check out your blog, take notice of an event, or just tell them what you are doing. The beautiful thing about Twitter is that if you look at all the tweets out there and organize them, it is a snapshot of our society. However, like all forms of Media, it can become an unwelcome distraction and a waste of time.
If you go to your home page in Twitter, you will see trends on the right side- this lists the most used words in Tweets so you can immediately see what everybody is talking about.
Another cool thing is the search function box. If you want to hear the latest Michael Jackson jokes, you can search for that and see all the Tweets at once that contain that word.
Hash tags are another way of making sure the people who want to see your Tweet can find it. For instance, one of the top trends today is #musicmonday. If I search #musicmonday, all the Tweets about #musicmonday are displayed, and I can view them all. The Tweeters simply start the tweet with the hash tag to ensure that the tweet can be searched for.
Twitter comments need to be either educational or funny. I have quit following anyone on Twitter that tweets every hour about a fly on their computer screen.
To help anyone who might be overusing Twitter, I have put together some examples of “bad” and “good” tweets.
Bad: “Stuck in traffic AGAIN, and this guy gave me the finger.”
Good: “Watch out for the Bayside Bridge. Dump Truck overturned.”
The first one is simply a complaint that happens to a vast majority of us on a daily basis. The second one has something in the comment that people in that area can use.
Bad: “It’s raining here and I’m watching the rain”
Good: “In the eye of the hurricane now here in Dallas, waiting for part two.”
The first one here is someone telling all their followers that it is raining. (Yawn) The second is giving an update on a natural disaster.
Bad: “Ahhh… I have a flat tire.”
Good: “So, I was driving down 9th St and I ran over a hoe. Seriously. There was a hoe in the middle of the road. A garden hoe.”
Are you catching on to this, or do I need to explain that one?
When Tweeting, consider our target audience and what they want to hear, not just what you want to say.
Social Media has so many benefits to our social and professional lives. It can turn a high school buddy that lives on the other coast into a neighbor. I’ve watched baseball games with my friend in Boston. I can share photos from last night’s party as if 100 of my closest friends were sitting in my kitchen.
Facebook has become the easiest way to rally my neighborhood association. I think it is ironic that I chat with the guy across the street on Facebook chat instead of just walking down the stairs. I’ve spent Friday nights at my kitchen table with a bottle of wine and PINGFM and had a great time.
The internet allows the public to control what they are exposed to. People no longer respond to mailers and radio commercials, they go to Google to get their needs met, and completely block out all the 100s and 1000s of messages that are pointed at them every day.
This is the reason that I only use MySpace to catch up with my 13 year old step brother in Austin. I get friend requests from porn shops. My Profile has been accessed 3 times and I have, unbeknownst to me, left drug trafficking comments on my friend’s profiles. The profiles load so slowly because of all the HYPE…
There’s a reason I have a profile on Facebook. When I accept a person as a friend or follower, I “opt in” to find out what parties they are going to, if they are single this week, and how their weekend went. I like to be reminded that it’s their birthday.
What I DON’T like is all the annoying little notifications. “Someone looked at you on Sparkey.” “Matt sent you a BEER!” “Fiona gave you a Purple Myrtle plant.” “You have a flirt on Zoosk.” Zoosk must be where all the guys that get banned from Yahoo Personals go. Have you noticed that some applications open in the same window and dump you into page of spam? And someone PLEASE tell me how sending a boat load of virtual Day Lillies will reduce my carbon footprint.
The bottom line is that we are programmed to ignore 100s of 1000s of media messages every single day. If social networking becomes part of that, we will all have to go back to hanging out on our front porches. Not that that would be terrible.
I recently was given some market research for the Tampa Bay area. The research overviewed about 100 professions and businesses and the aproximate # of purchases to be made in each category in the Tampa Bay area this year.
A sampling of some of the cateogies
| Business Type | Purchases Expected in one Year | % of Which Decision Was Made Based on the Internet |
|---|---|---|
| Banquet Facilities | 35,993 | 41% |
| Bridal Wear | 52,401 | 43% |
| Caterers | 34,903 | 35% |
| Health Clinics | 99,325 | 25% |
| Mortgages | 151,199 | 34% |
| Movers | 74,241 | 31% |
| Office Furniture & Equipment Sales | 153,161 | 34% |
| Printers | 149,226 | 29% |
| Tax Preparation | 34,903 | 22% |
How much of your business are you currently getting from the internet?
This data is a powerful tool in understanding if your particular market is influenced heavily by the internet as well as understanding the possibilities your business may have for expansion.
While I have taken an opportunity to highlight some of the internet heavy industires – I have market data across many industries as well as other media source statistics. If you are not aware of how users are searching for you in the marketplace – you need to be. Send me an email with the business sector you are interested in and I will make sure you get the information.
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