What The Tweet?
Mar
This started out as an email to a client. And I thought, hey! Why not share my thoughts on my blog. So here we are…
If you’re new to Twitter and are asking “What the Tweet is going on here?” then here’s a small guide on how to get started with some resources and helpful links:
I’ve been studying Twitter lately, to see what role it can play in overall marketing. I joined it in 2007 on Freeman’s insistence, but at that time, there seemed no point in talking about what I was doing since no one was listening anyway (read I had no community and didn’t know how to find or join one)
Almost two years later, I’m astounded with the amount of information that is floating around on Twitter. Twitter has already been established as a tool for real time news aggregation and conversation, but I’ve been fascinated by how entrepreneurs and some big corporations have been leveraging it.
The big guys are using Twitter as a customer support and feedback mechanism, to engage, connect with and enthuse their customers (Skittles did something a while ago, and while the stats claim the site witnessed 1332% traffic increase, I’m not sure how much of that actually resulted in engaging and/or delighting the visitors.)
Anyhow, I digress. So while the big guys are doing what they’re doing, smaller companies and entrepreneurs are using it heavily to:
1. Network with other like-minded people
2. Establish interest and credibility in their area of specialization (by tweeting)
3. Keep track of the latest trends in their specific space
I’ve been connecting with social media marketers/agencies and now my Twitter homepage brings me the latest news and updates about everything social media. I’m new here so currently I’m happy just posting links and commenting on trends that are important to me. My guess is each niche is having similar conversations. There’s a lot to learn and a lot of opportunities that can establish you as a valid member of your niche community.
Most Tweets can be broadly categorized into:
1. Updates: Tweeting about latest work/projects/fun and personal stuff
2. Links: linking to latest trends/news/analysis of a specific space
3. Mentions/Replies: responding to friend’s Tweets or mentioning a Tweet
There are several tools available to make things easy. I’m mentioning some of them here…
Twhirl.com: A desktop client bundled with notification, url shortening, ability to post images etc
TweetDeck: I migrated to TweetDeck – it allows me to group Twitterers into groups such as Friends/Family, Tech, Social Media etc. It also comes with all the features that Twhirl offers and then some.
Searching Twitter: A blog post on how to search Twitter
Bit.ly: URL shortening, also tracks your links. there are a million of these. TweetDeck has all of them.
Location-specific search: Search Twitterers in your area – you can add people from here
Other Resources: Smashing magazine has compiled a list on how to be a hit on Twitter
Update: I also immensely enjoyed Scott Hepburn’s post on How I Decide Who To Follow On Twitter.
So here are my 2 cents on the Twitterevolution. Please add your thoughts, comments and resources.
Related posts:
